

A. Do 907 - 1558 



Book , H •' i u_ 



RECORDS 

OF 

ROMSEY ABBEY: 

AN ACCOUNT 

OF 

THE BENEDICTINE HOUSE OF NUNS, 

WITH NOTES ON 

THE PARISH CHURCH AND TOWN 
(A.D. 907—1558). 

Compiled from Manuscript and Printed Records 

BY 

HENRY G. D. LIVEING, M.A. 

Formerly Vicar of Hyde, Winchester. 
[Abridged Edi+ion.] 

WINCHESTER : 
WARREN AND SON, LTD., 85, HIGH STREET. 



I 9 I 2. 



ERRATA. 



Page 5, 
5. 
6, 



14- 
29, 
32. 
6o, 
67. 
69, 

94. 
105, 
118, 
128, 

134. 
169, 
176, 
185. 
196, 
206 , 
231, 

2 35. 
236, 
281, 



line 30, 

34- 
20, 
10, 

33. 
1, 

27, 
20, 
10, 
33. 

20, 
12, 

14. 
20, 

8, 
4. 
5. 
24, 

15- 
31. 
25. 
9. 
28, 
10, 



y»r "Norman," read " E. English." 
insert after "house," "in the main." 
omit "which divides .... Romsey Extra." 
for "tenth," read "ninth." 
for " £1," read "£2." 
for " vEthaelfleda, " read " ^Ethelnaeda. " 
for "1357," read "1057." 
for "Formulari," read "Formulare." 
for " being found," read "is to be found." 
for "an," "window," and "was," read "two," "windows' 

and "were." 
for "his," read "his successor's." 
for " 1310," read "1311." 
for "of," read "to." 
/or "1372," ma/ "1373-" 
for "a year," razrf "a month, 1358." 
/<?r "1368," read "1369." 
/or "hundred," razrf "Hundred." 
for "and," read "and makes." 
for "and," read "or." 
for "and," read "which." 
for "offend," read "offends." 
for "and," read "the chanter." 
for "Almoness," read " Almoneress. " 
for "inspection," read "collection." 



PREFACE. 



HE History of Romsey Abbey has never yet been written. 



and it is very unlikely that, owing to the loss or destruction 
of the Monastic Rolls and Register, such a work will ever be 
accomplished. The account of the Abbey and Town, contained 
in the following pages, has been compiled from notes, collected 
out of MSS. and printed books, and pieced together by the 
Author to the best of his ability. An intimate familiarity with 
the beautiful Church, acquired during a six years residence in 
the town from 1892-98, moved him to search for information 
about its past history, and led him to collect these notes. He 
is aware that the result must appear but fragmentary, and that 
an amateur, working in the field of history and archaeology, is 
very liable to errors of all kinds, but he ventures to hope that, 
since there is no book of the kind at present in circulation, his 
account of the Abbey and Town may not be without interest to 
his old friends in Romsey and the neighbourhood, and perhaps 
also to some of the visitors who come to view the Church during 
the summer months. 

The Author has to express his regret that owing to lack of 
space he has been compelled to omit several Appendices. The 
plan of the Conventual Buildings for the same reason, and 
because of the lack of evidence for reconstructing it, has had 
to be omitted ; the matter is still under investigation, and there- 
fore the notes with reference to the site either of the Abbess's 
Lodging or of the Guest House must be considered tentative. 

The Author owes a large debt of gratitude to those who have 
generously assisted him in his undertaking, and has much 
pleasure in recording his thanks to the Rev. J. Cooke Yarborough, 
the Vicar of Romsey, for his kindness, shown in a variety of 
ways ; to the Right Hon. Evelyn Ashley for his very kind 




iv 



Preface. 



permission to reproduce the collection of old water-colour 
drawings at Broadlands ; to the Rev. Prebendary Coleman, of 
Wells, for his unfailing interest and encouragement ; to Charles 
Wooldridge, Esq., for his ready permission to examine the 
Episcopal Registers ; to the Rev. F. T. Madge for access to the 
Cathedral Library ; and to Ralph Nevill, Esq., for his help in 
several matters. He offers special thanks to the Rev. F. Hyne 
Davy for writing the chapter on the Romsey Psalter • and to 
E. C. Shearman, Esq., for the beautiful drawing reproduced as 
a frontispiece. 

He wishes to record his obligations to the British Museum 
Authorities for allowing him to photograph Mr. Latham's 
sketches ; to Mr. H. Guard, of Romsey, for most kindly taking 
a large number of photographs both at the British Museum and 
at Romsey; to the Rev. C. Watling for a photograph of the 
Le Rous tomb at Imber ; to the Rev. M. West for a photograph 
of a page of the Psalter ; to Messrs. Wilkinson & Co., of Trow- 
bridge, for photographs of Edington Church ; to Messrs. Dodridge 
and Gibbs, of Romsey, for permission to reproduce their beautiful 
photograph of the Saxon Rood ; to N. C. Nisbett, Esq., for 
careful photographs of seals ; to the latter and to the Hampshire 
Field Club for permission to reproduce a plan of the Church, 
attached to an article by the Vicar, entitled Recent Discoveries 
in Romsey Abbey ; to Miss M. and Miss H. Lethbridge for their 
kindness in making the Index. He wishes to recognise the 
careful work done for him by Miss M. Martin at the Record 
Office and at Winchester, in copying MSS. 

He cannot close these few words of preface without expressing 
his appreciation of the excellent work done by Messrs. Warren 
and Son in printing and producing the book, and of the care 
taken by their staff in passing these pages through the press. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS AND CALENDAR, 

A.D. 907—1558. 



CHAPTER I. 

PAGE 

INTRODUCTION 3 



A.D. 
907. 

966. 

972. 
982. 

992 
-IOO3. 

IOI2. 
IOl6 
-1025. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE FOUNDATION, 

Abbey founded by King Edward the Elder 
His daughter, ^lflaeda, first Abbess ... 
King Edgar's Charter and Gifts 
Abbess Merwinna 

Burial of Edmund ^theling in the Abbey 
Bequest of Ethelmere, Governor of Hampshire 
s Abbess Elwina 

\ Danish raid by Sweyn and Canute 
J Nuns flee to Winchester 

Abbess S. AZthelflceda, born c. 962 

Gift of Queen /Ethelgyfu (Emma) 
{ Abbess Wulfynn 

I Abbess JE If 'gyfu and fifty -four nuns ... 



1 1 

11 
14 

15 
IS 

26 



35 

28 



CHAPTER III. 
THE SAXON PRINCESSES. 

1030. Saxon Rood (now in South Choir Aisle) ... ... ... 36 

Names of Abbesses, unknown for about a century ... ... 51 

(?) Saxon or Early Norman Apse ... ... .. ... ... 38 

1086. Christina, sister of S. Margaret, Queen of Scotland, veiled 

as nun at Romsey ... ... ... ... ... ... 39 

1086. Domesday Book compiled ... ... ... ... 328, 329 

1093. Queen Margaret's daughters, Eadgyth (Matilda) and Mary, 

at Romsey ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 39 

1093. William Rufus and Malcolm Canmore, King of Scotland, 

visit Romsey .. ... ... ... ... ... ... 40 

1 100. Matilda (Eadgyth) married to Henry I, nth November ... 42 
(?) Grant of four -days fair, beginning S. ^Ethelflaeda's Day 

(23rd October), 7 Charters of Henry I 45 

11.05. Henry I at Romsey, and again in 1110 ... ... ... 44 

1118. Queen Matilda dies, 1st May ... ... ... ... ... 46 



vi Table of Contents and Calendar. 



CHAPTER IV. 
PRINCESS MARY OF BLOIS. 

A.D. PAGE 

c. 1120. Building of the Great Abbey Church begun 49 

c. 1 130. Abbess Hadewisa ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 5 1 

Three Charters of King Stephen 53 

c. 1 150. Abbess Matildis, © 1155 53 

c. 1 155. Abbess Princess Mary, married 1 161 ; © 1182 54 

(?) Fourteen Charters of Henry II... ... ... ... ... 53 

c. 1171-4. Abbess Juliana, © February, 1199 ... ... ... ... 57 

1 176-7. Nuns brought by Henry II from Fontevrault to Romsey ... 58 

1 199. Abbess Matilda Patric, 3rd June ; ©1218-19 59 

1200. King John at Romsey, 28th February ... ... ... .. 59 



1 2 10. King John at Romsey, 22nd — 23rd January and 12th February 59 



CHAPTER V. 
THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY ABBESSES. 

1219. Abbess Matilda (unnamed), © December, 1230 ... ... 63 

„ Gallows falls into disuse... ... ... ... ... ... 67 

1221. King John's house given to the Abbey, 9th November ... 66 

1230-1. Abbess Matilda de Barbfle, 14th December — 19th January; 

@ 14th April, 1237 ... ... ... .. ... ... 63 

1 23 1. Henry III at Romsey, 15th March ; and on 9th January, 1235 66 

„ Five oaks given for Dorter, 15th March ... ... ... 66 

1237. Abbess Isabel de Nevill, 28th April — 15th May 66 

„ Five New Forest bucks given for her feast, 21st May ... 66 

1238. Abbess Cecilia ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 65 

1 241. Tithe Settlement, Adam and John, Prebendaries of Romsey, 

and Rectors respectively of Romsey and Edington, 

24th — 27th March 72 

1244. Gift of Joan de Nevill, c. gth July ... ... ... ... 74 

1247. Abbess Constancia, late Prioress, 6th — 26th September ... 64 

1 25 1. Six New Forest oaks for Sacrist, 24th June .. ... ... 66 

1253. Sixteen New Forest oaks for the fabric of the Church, 

21st June ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 66 

1253. West End of Church in course of building .. ... ... 69 

(?) Coffin lid with cross and hand ... ... ... ... to face 78 

(?) Recumbent Effigy (now in south transept) ... ... ... 76 

1261. Abbess Amicia de Sulhere, late Prioress, 16th May — 6th June 64 

1263. Gallows restored, 22nd August .. . ... ... ... ... 67 

1266. No Jew in Romsey without the Abbess's license, 6th July ... 
1268. Abbess Alicia Walerand, nth — 28th July; © 10th April, 

1298 64, 78, 84 



Table of Contents and Calendar. vii 



A.D. PAGE 

1 27 1. Six Clarendon Forest oaks given, 20th November; Lady 

Chapel rebuilding ... ... ... ... ••• ■•• 7° 

1272. A cask of wine given, 1 oth May ... ... ... ••• 67 

1275. Edward I at Romsey, 28th — 29th January 7 1 * 7^ 

1279. Right of Assize of bread and ale confirmed ... ... ... 7^ 

c. 1282-3. Visitation of Archbishop Peckham ... ... ... ••• 82 

1294. Gift of John de Romeseye in Testwode, 3rd April 79 

CHAPTER VI. 
EARLY EPISCOPAL VISITATIONS. 

1298. Abbess Phillipa de Stokes, 13th — 28th April 91, 94 

1299. Gift of William Gocelyn and of Walter de Romesey, 1 ith July 
1302. Visitation by Bishop John de Pontoise, February 99 

1305. Attorneys appointed, Abbess being infirm, 19th February ... 91 

1306. Edward I's visit, 15th February 

1307. Grant of Custody of Abbey, during a vacancy, 7th June . .. 96 
Abbess Clemencia de Guldeford, 23rd September — 24th Nov- 
ember; © December, 1314 ... 91, 95 

1309. Confirmation of Charter, 14th June 

131 1. Visitation of Bishop Henry Woodlock, 10th — 23rd March ... 102 

„ Attorneys appointed, Abbess being infirm, 3rd September ... 92 
1313. Release of right to appoint two nuns, given by Sir John le 

Rous, September ... ... ... ... ... ... 99 

1314-15. Abbess Alicia de Wyntereshulle, 30th December-5th February; 

© c. May 92 

1315. Commission of inquiry as to her death, 28th May and 1 ith July 92 
„ Abbess Sybil Carbonel, — 8th August ; © 1st June, 

1333 93 

13 17. Appropriation of Itchenstoke Rectory, 6th April ... ... 99 

„ Hospital of SS. Mary and Anthony mentioned, 3rd March ... 204 
1 32 1. " Ordination " of Romsey Vicarage, 9th September, and 18th 

November, 1322 ... ... ... ... ... ... 127 

1327. No more nuns to be received, 27th October ... ... ... 98 

CHAPTER VII. 
THE GREAT PESTILENCE. 

1333. Abbess Johanna Icthe, late Cellaress, nth June — nth Sept. 111 
,, Ninety-one nuns mentioned by name ... ... ... ... 112 

1334. Visitation by Bishop Adam Orlton, and Sermons, 28th Nov. 122 

1335. The Braishfield Chantry 115 

1340. List of Romsey Taxpayers of a " Fifteenth " ... .. ... 178 

1349. The Great Pestilence (Black Death). Abbess, Prebendary, 

and two Vicars die, May — September ... ... 1 18-127 



viii 



Table of Contents and Calendar. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

A.D. PAGE 

THE CLERGY, 1 130— 1540 125 

CHAPTER IX. 
EDINGTON AND IMBER. 

1349. Abbess Johanna Gerneys, 6th — 22nd May 

135 1. Appropriation of Second Prebend of S. Laurence to the 

Convent, and gift by the Convent to Bishop William de 
Edyndon, of Edyndon Church and Prebend, for his 
Chantry there, 8th July 146 

CHAPTER X. 
ABBESS ISABELLA DE CAMOYS. 

1352. Abbess Isabella de Camoys, 24th — 25th November 163 

J 35&- Transmutation of Edyndon Chantry into a House of 

Augustinian Bonshommes, 6th April 15° 

1360. Gift of Walter Nott and others, 15th July 170 

1367. Gift of Martin Moulysche, Richard Pauncefote, and others, 

7th February 1 70 

1372. Dispute between Vicar and Convent as to blessing of palms 

for Palm Sunday, 13th March ... ... ... ... 169 

1373. Inquiry as to Vicar's Income, 15th March ... 128 

„ Inquiry as to who should repair the North Aisle or Parish 

Church, 15th March ... 180 

1390. Confirmation of Charters by the Crown, 1 Oth May .. ... 170 

1396. Abbess Lucy Everard, 17th April — 1 6th May ... 171 

1396. Visitation by Bishop William of Wykeham. Date of Com- 
mission, 8th September ... ... ... ... ... 172 

1403. License for enlargement of Parish Church, 10th May ... 180 

CHAPTER XI. 
THE PARISH CHURCH AND TOWN, 1340-1540 175 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE MANOR COURT ROLLS. 

1405. Abbess Felicia Aas, 30th July — 27th August 191 

1412. Household Account Roll of Convent ... ... ... ...192-5 

1416. Bishop Henry Beaufort's Register (141 6 —1447) missing ... 196 

141 7. Abbess Matilda Lovell, 25th October — 18th November ... 196 
1420. Will of John Keredyf (Cardiff), 20th August 191-2 

c. 1441. Romsey Psalter written ... ... ... ... ... ... 286 



Table of Contents and Calendar. ix 

A.D. PAGE 

. 1450. Date of Red Altar Cloth, now lost 197 

. 1460. Date of Chimney Piece in house in Church Street, now 

destroyed ... ... ... ... ... ••• •■• 196 

1462. Abbess Johanna Bryggys, late Prioress, 26th April — 30th May 198 
1467. New Aisle of Parish Church and Brotherhood of St. George 

mentioned ... ... ... ... ... ••• 180-182 

471-2. Entertainment of Abbess at Winchester College, last Monday 

of the year ... ... ... ... .. ... ... 198 

1395. Series of Manor Court Rolls (1395 — 1444) ... 198 

The Pauncefote Family ... ... ... ... ... ... 206 



CHAPTER XIII. 
ABBESS ELIZABETH BROKE. 

1472. Abbess Elizabeth Broke, 27th May — 22nd June ; © 12th 



May, 1502 211 

1475. Chantry of St. George, in the Parish Church, founded 

17th February 182 

1478. Absolution and Re-election of Elizabeth Broke and list of 

Nuns, 17th August — 14th October ... 214 

1485. Gift to Chantry of St. George, nth June 183 

1491. Full authority with abbatial staff restored to Abbess Elizabeth 

Broke ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 216 



1492. Visitation by Commission of Archbishop Morton, 29th Oct. 216-7 

1501. Visitation by Commission of the Prior of Canterbury during 

the vacancy of Archbishopric, 27th March ... 222-3 

1502. Abbess Joyce Rowse, 6th. — 18th June ; resigned 16th Sept., 15 15 226 
,, List of Nuns at the election ... ... ... ... ... 236 

1507. Admonition to Master John Folton and the Vicar of Romsey, 

2nd and 5th January ... ... ... ... ... 228 

1507. Visitation by Commission of Bishop Richard Fox, 3rd Jan. 228-232 
1515. Abbess Ann Westbroke, 16th September — 9th October; 

© 2 1 st November, 1523 232 

1522. Grant by Abbey of ^133. 6s. 8d. to Henry VIII for personal 

expenses in France for recovery of the crown ... ... 233 

1522. Episcopal License to Richard Lyster for the celebration of 

Mass in the Oratory at Stanbridge, 15th September ... 234 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE SUPPRESSION. 

1523-24. Abbess Elizabeth Ryprose, November 24th — January 25th ... 241 

Injunctions of Bishop Richard Fox's Chancellor ... ... 244 

1525. Subsidy Roll, with list of Taxpayers, 20th January ... ... 272 

1526. The King's visit to Romsey relinquished, by reason of "the 

sickness " there, 6th August ... ... ... ... 244 



Table of Contents and Calendar. 



A.D. 



1527. Reprimand and punishment of two Nuns by Bishop Richard 

Fox's Vicar-General, 16th January .. ... 245-6 

1527. Papal Bull of protection, shown (in Court at London) by 

John Foster, 7th June 247 

1534. Profession of nine Nuns, 27th and 28th July... ... ... 248 

„ Two letters of Abbess Elizabeth Ryprose to Cromwell, 

November and 15th December ... ... ... ... 248 

1534. Act of Supremacy passed circa November ... ... ... 248 

S. George's Chantry, valued at £4. 16s. 8d. .. ... ... 186 

I 535- Thomas and John Foster made "Receivers" in the Abbey, 

20th February 249 

1536. Act of Suppression of Lesser Monasteries, February ... 250 
„ " The Pilgrimage of Grace," October ... ... ... ... 250 

1537. Visitation of Monasteries resumed, Autumn ... ... ... 250 

„ Confirmation of Romsey Charters, 5th November ... 

1538. Sir Richard Lyster's letter to Cromwell concerning the 

alienation of property by the Abbey of Romsey, 15th 
September ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 250 

1538. Pensions granted by Abbess and Convent to various persons, 

20th September ... ... ... ... ... ... 251 

1538. Indenture relating to letting the Rectory Farm, 28th November 
1538. John Foster's letter to Sir Thomas Seymour, describing the 
value of the Abbey, with list of twenty-six nuns, 28th 
December ... ... ... ... ... 237, 252 

1538. Richard Layton (Cromwell's Commissioner) leaves for a visit 

to Romsey Abbey ... ... ... ... ... ... 253 

1539. Royal License to alienate Wiltshire Manors to Sir Thomas 

Seymour, 20th and 27th January ... ... ... ... 254 

1539. Suppression of Romsey Monastery ... ... ... ... 254 

1539. Royal License to alienate Itchenstoke to Sir William Poulett, 

Lord S. John, 22nd April 

CHAPTER XV. 
" AFTERWARDS/' 

1539. Account Roll of Henry Warner, the King's Bailiff, 29th 

September ... ... ... ... ... ... 264-5 

1540. John Foster's pension, £20. 6s. 8d., relating to the Chapels 

of SS. Andrew and Peter (made 1st September, 1536), 
confirmed 18th February ... ... ... ... ... 252 

1540. John Mason, Prebendary of Tymesbury, 28th May ... ... 268 

1541. Grant of Romsey Rectory to the Dean and Chapter of 

Winchester, May 268 

1541. Inquiry as to the marriage of Jane Foster, nee Wadham, 

nth June ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 255 

1542. Grant by the Dean and Chapter of Winchester to Francis 

Fleming, of Romsey Parsonage, 17th November ... 268 



Table of Contents and Calendar. xi 



A.D. PAGE 

1 543- John Foster, Incumbent of Baddesley... ... ... ... 256 

„ John Newman, Vicar of Romsey, infirm ... ... ... 268 

1544. Subsidy Roll, with list of tax-payers, 12th February ... 272 

„ Purchase of the Abbey Church by the townsfolk, 20th Feb. 270 

„ Grant of Romsey Manors to Foster and Marden, 17th 

December ... ... ... ... ... ... 187, 266 

1547. Richard Wynslade presents to Vicarage, 16th March ... 268 

1547. Grant to Bellowe and Biggot, 28th January .. ... ... 267 

1549. Subsidy Roll, with list and occupations of tax-payers, 6th May 272 

r 554- Church Plate restored by the Crown ... ... ... ... 270 

1554. Sir Richard Lister dies, 17th March 266 

1558. Mention of " Mayor and Constables " ... ... ... 276 

1558. Grant of Manor of Romsey Extra to Sir Francis Flemynge, 

1 8th July 267 

„ Dean and Chapter present to the Vicarage for the first time, 

6th September 269 

„ Will of Sir Francis Flemynge, 24th August 278 

1569. Registers of Parish Church begin ... ... ... ... 281 

1578. Mention of "William Pratt, now Mayor," 14th May ... 277 



NOTES. 



1. The Abbey was a Royal Foundation. 

2. It was dedicated in honour of S. Mary and S. ^Ethelflseda. 

3. The names of thirty-three Abbesses are known. 

4. The Convent existed for c. 632 years. 

5. It held property in four Counties. 

6. It was a home of learning in early days. 

7. It feel into disrepute about the close of the 15th century. 

8. The suppression took place in the Spring of 1539. 

Dates are given according to modern reckoning. The sign [©] is 
used to indicate the day or year of death. 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



TO FACE PAGE 

Recumbent Effigy, S. Transept ... ... ... ... Frontispiece. 

The Nave, Romsey Abbey (twelfth and thirteenth centuries) ... 14 

Saxon Rood, South Choir Aisle ... ... ... ... ... ... 36 

Plan of Romsey Abbey ... ... ... ... ... ... 38 

Norman Rood, Site of Cloister ... ... ... ... ... ... 40 

Carving — South Choir Aisle ... ... ... ... ... ... 44 

Carvings on Norman Capitals, South and North Choir Aisles ... 50 

Convent Seal, A. D. 1130 ... ... ... ... ... ... 52 

Nave Arcade and North Aisle 58 

Seal of Vicar Nicholas de Sancto Botolpho, a.d. 1334-49 ... ... 64 

Seal of Abbess Constance, a.d. 1247 -61 ... ... ... ... 64 

The East End 68 

The West End 68 

The East End, and Site of Lady Chapel ... ... ... ... 70 

Coffin Lids, thirteenth century ... ... ... ... ... ... 78 

Carvings, chiefly on North Side ... ... ... ... ... 92 

The Three Entrances ... ... ... ... ... ... ... no 

The Outer Gate, before Rebuilding, a.d. 1886-88 114 

Coffin Lid of Abbess Joan Icthe, a.d. 1349 120 

Edington Church, Wiltshire ... ... ... ... ... ... 126 

Edington Church, Wiltshire ... ... ... ... ... 150 

Imber Church, Wiltshire ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 154 

Effigies of " Le Rous," Imber Church ... ... ... ... ... 156 

Injunctions of Bishop William of Wykeham ... ... ... ... 168 

North Side of Romsey Abbey, shewing Nave Aisle or Parish Church 

of S. Laurence ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 180 

North Transept Screen (from within) ... ... ... ... ... 184 

Ancient House in Church Street ... ... ... ... ... 196 

Chimney-piece of House in Church Street — Circa 1460 ... ... 198 

Altar Frontal, c. 1450 202 

The Sanctuary — Temp. 1806-1816 ... ... ... ... ... 214 

Nave Choir Aisle and Apse ... ... ... ... ... ... 228 

Convent Seal (probably of late date) ... ... ... ... ... 244 

Mr. John Latham, f.r.s., f.s.a .. 254 

Deed of Sale of Abbey Church by King Henry VIII to the Inhabitants 270 

The Nave from the Sanctuary, c. 1836 276 

Sketch Map of the District 8 

Map of Romsey 282 



CHAPTER I. 



INTRODUCTION. 



"The Test .... rising clear and pure out of Overton Pool." 

KlNGSLEY's Waterbabies. 



B 



Chapter I. 



INTRODUCTION. 



HE Town of Romsey situate in the New Forest 



Division of South Hampshire, though but little 
known to-day, was once famous. Kings visited it, and 
Princesses made it their dwelling-place. The Town pos- 
sesses two attractions of great beauty, the Abbey Church 
and the River Test. It is a matter of regret that these 
attractions are not better known, for they afford very real 
pleasure to lovers of architecture, and of pleasant country 
scenery, such as is characteristic of these South Hampshire 
valleys. 

The river claims prior attention, not only as the older 
attraction, but as being indeed the maker of Romsey, 
for it is quite certain that the Abbey was placed here 
owing to the convenient and pleasant site created by the 
river. No river, no abbey — and the town may therefore 
look with gratitude to the River Test, both as the author 
of its being, and as the great benefactor which caused it 
to be endowed with so beautiful and valuable a treasure 
as the Abbey Church. The Test or Teorstan, as it 
was called in Saxon days, rises thirty-five miles away in 
Overton Pool, and is said to be the longest river in the 
county. It flows down between chalk hills, which are a 
characteristic of this part of Hampshire, and has all the 
charms of chalk streams, such as Charles Kingsley 




4 



Records of Romsey Abbey. 



delighted to describe. Here are clear waters, a swift 
current, and the trout he loved so well. 

The stream, after passing Whitchurch and Longparish, 
is joined by the Anton from Andover, one mile below 
Wherwell. At Wherwell stood a Benedictine Nunnery, 
made famous by the residence of two unhappy Queens. 
The one, Elfrida, the widow of King Edgar the Peaceable, 
founded it in expiation of her crime in murdering her 
step-son Edward at Corfe Castle. The other, Eadgyth, 
daughter of Earl Godwin, and the young wife of Edward 
the Confessor, was banished here for a time by reason of the 
jealousy of the Norman courtiers, and was placed under the 
charge of the Abbess, the King's sister. In this neighbour- 
hood, King Edgar is reported to have slain the Ealdorman 
^Ethelwold, for his treacherous conduct in reporting un- 
favourably of the charms of ^Elfthryth or Elfrida, the 
daughter of Ordgar, Earl of Devon, and marrying the lady 
himself. Here too, is laid the scene of the strange wooing, 
by Edgar, of the Lady Wlfhilda, and of the romantic 
escape of this courageous maiden from the too importunate 
advances of her royal lover. Passing Leckford, the Test 
flows by Stockbridge, and a little lower down, at Horse- 
bridge, the old Roman road from Winchester to Salisbury 
passes over it. To the east lies King's Sombourne, so 
called because the Crown held property there, and at one 
time owned a mansion in the parish. This village gives 
its name to the Hundred. 

Three miles below this point the valley narrows, and 
the bright clear stream flows through meadows, standing 
thick with long grass in the summer season, and edged 
by borders of rushes and great reeds. From the rising 
ground on the west bank, a spring pours forth its waters 
to join the river, and at this spot stood the Priory of 
Mottisfont, the Mortesfunde of Domesday. When some 



Introduction. 



5 



alterations were being made in the present dwelling-house 
in 1 901, it was found that several of the rooms had been 
constructed within the old Priory Church. The first settle- 
ment of Augustinian Monks was made here in the reign of 
King John, when William Briwere of King's Sombourne, 
Chief Baron of Hampshire, and Sheriff of the County in 
1207, founded the Priory. His benevolent example was 
followed by his brother the hermit, Peter de Rivallis, 
known as " the holy man in the wall," who enriched 
Mottisfont with his savings. On the same side of the 
river, but lower down, is Kimbridge, which once belonged 
to the Cantertons, a New Forest family. 

Away on a hill to the east is the village of Michelmersh, 
called Michelmareys in a deed of circa 1248, and Micla- 
mersee in a Saxon charter of King Ethelred II, of 985. 
Possibly the name indicates the great marsh which 
stretched out below the village right across the valley of 
the Test. The manor of this village, from the time of 
Queen Emma, the wife (successively) of ^Ethelred the Un- 
ready and Canute, belonged to the Priory of St. Swithun's, 
Winchester. It was part of the Queen's property and was 
given by her to St. Swithun's as a thank-offering, so runs 
the legend, on her acquital from a base charge of too great 
intimacy with Bishop Alwine, she having successfully 
passed the ordeal of walking barefoot on hot ploughshares. 
Below Mottisfont the river turns slightly to the east, and 
the church of Timsbury or Timberbury stands on slightly 
rising ground on the left or eastern bank. This church 
was attached to, or dependent on, one of the Prebendal 
Stalls of Romsey, and is an ancient Norman edifice. On 
the opposite bank, and a little away from the river, is the 
site of the ancient manor house of Stanbridge, the home so 
it has been conjectured of Ethelwulfe, the father of Alfred 
the Great. The present house dates only from the time of 



6 



Records of Romsey Abbey. 



Queen Elizabeth. On the hill a little further south may be 
seen Roke or Oke Manor. Below the hill is a wood called 
Squab or Quabbe, which takes its name from the marshy 
nature of the ground. Near Kimbridge, the river, uniting 
with another stream from Lockerly and East Dean, 
flows out into a wide valley, which is intersected by many 
streams and which no doubt formed, in the old days, the 
Great Marsh referred to above in reference to the name of 
the village of Michelmersh. 

Many mills are turned by these streams to-day, just as 
similar ones have been turned by the same water power 
for probably a thousand years. Three mills are mentioned 
in Domesday as belonging to Romsey. The Town is not 
only surrounded by these streams, which form an island, 
but it actually stands upon several of the smaller ones. A 
branch of the Fishlake Stream flows under Porter's Bridge 
Street and crosses the Hundred on the east side of the 
Market Place, at a spot where the Hundred Bridge 
formerly stood. Another branch of this stream, which 
divides the parish into Romsey Infra and Romsey Extra, 
passes beneath the pavement in Church or Churchstigel, 
i.e., Churchstyle Street, and flowing through the Market 
Place, makes its way round by the Abbey Gate and turns 
the Abbey Mill No. I. This stream finds its way out of 
the town by a double branch and joins the stream of 
Abbey Mill No. II. To the west of the great church there 
are two streams, one at the foot of the vicarage meadow 
which turns Abbey Mill No. II, and the other, the main 
stream or old Teorstan lying some few hundred yards 
beyond, which, after being turned to account by Sadler's 
Mill, receives the water of the lesser streams and flows 
under Middlebridge. The water about these mills is clear, 
bright, and swift, and it is pleasant on a summer's evening 
to watch the trout lying quiet under the bank or gliding up 



Introduction. 



7 



stream, and to hear the splash of the water as one rises to 
a fly. At Sadler's Mill, in spawning time, salmon may be 
seen leaping high out of the water, bars of glowing silver, 
and casting themselves into the mill race in their mad 
endeavour to win the higher reaches of the stream. 

Perhaps the marshy nature of the ground gave the 
place-name to Romsey ; " Rom," it is true, means broad, 
but " Ruimne " means marshy, and the name almost 
certainly originated with the latter and means, " the 
isle in the marshes." It is spelt in a variety of ways, 
Romeseye, Romsey, Rumsey, and in the Hyde Register, 
(A.D. 1016-25,) Hrumesig, where the expression Nomina 
sororum Hrumensis Ccenobii is also found. If the marshy 
character of the ground be thought to have originated the 
name, the similar conditions and names found in the case 
of Ramsey, Hunts, of Romney, Kent, and of Rumbridge, 
lower down the Test, will give point to the argument. It 
may also be worth noticing that " Rhymni " is used to 
indicate the marshy land, in Monmouth, on a river called 
by the same name, from the nature of the land through 
which it flows. If " Ruimne " be Gaelic, says Mr. Shore in 
his History of Hampshire, " Romsey is a very early name 
and we may suppose there was a settlement before Saxon 
times." 

After passing the modern Middlebridge, built in place 
of an older structure which is mentioned in the records of 
the Civil Wars, the Test flows at the foot of Broadlands' 
or Brodelondes' Lawns. Pauncefoot Hill lies away on the 
right, going down stream, and the road after passing it 
leads in about two miles to a spur of high ground over- 
looking the valley, where is a small hamlet called Ridge or 
Rige. On the opposite side of the valley and at some 
distance is Ashfield or Ashfold, and straight ahead in the 
meadow land, as its name implies, is the hamlet of Lee. 



8 



Records of Romsey Abbey. 



The river dividing into two branches passes Moorecourt 
and the Manor of Wade by Oure on the right, and Grove 
Place with the Manor of Welles on the left. The latter 
place is frequently referred to from early days, but the 
present mansion dates from the time of Queen Elizabeth. 

About three miles from Romsey, Nursling Church is 
reached. In old days a monastery stood here, made 
famous as the home of St. Boniface, from whence he went 
forth to carry on his missionary work throughout Germany. 
At the time of the Danish incursions in the tenth century 
Nursling or Nutceling perished, and the monastery was 
never rebuilt. 

At Redbridge, Southampton Water meets the river, and 
here Romsey Abbey owned a saltern ; close by are Totton 
or Todyngton and Eling, both of which places are con- 
nected with the Abbey. Testwood, too, is a familiar name 
in records of the neighbourhood, and Rumbridge, already 
referred to, lay between the two former places. On the 
west side of the head of the Water lies Marchwood, 
sometimes called Marchwood Rumsey, owing to a family 
of the name of Rumsey having possessed it in old days. 
Southampton Water at full tide is graceful and picturesque 
with a peaceful still beauty, but to be appreciated it should 
be seen in its glory, with the setting sun kindling the dark 
waters into flame. 

This slight survey of the course of the River Test and 
of the villages, hamlets, manors, and farms on either bank 
may be of use in giving a general idea of the country, and 
of the various names and places which will frequently be 
met with in any description of the Records of Romsey. 




WARREN U 



CHAPTER II. 



A.D. 907 IO25. 

THE FOUNDATION* 



' ' The race of Alfred covets glorious pains, 

bold to strive 

With the fierce tempest, while, within the round 

Of their protection, gentle virtues thrive." — Wordsworth. 



Chapter II. 



THE FOUNDATION. 



HE first establishment of a religious house at Romsey 



was made by King Edward the Elder, the son and 
successor of Alfred the Great. Edward's reign lasted for 
twenty-three years (901 — 924), and he is supposed to have 
founded Romsey Abbey in 907. 

The Nunnery was, at this time, quite a small house, and 
similar to Saint Mary's, at Winchester, which is described 
as " the little Monastery " (monasteriolium) ; it may indeed 
be doubted if the sisters lived in community under one 
roof. Very little is known about this establishment. King 
Edward's eldest daughter by ^Elflseda, his first wife, was 
buried here ; her name was ^Elflaeda, she and her sister 
yEthelhilda, both entered the religious life, but the latter as 
a lay sister only. They are connected with the Monastery 
at Wilton, near Salisbury, and whilst ^Ethelhilda was buried 
there, ^Elflseda found a resting place at Romsey. Her Obit 
was commemorated at Saint Mary's, Winchester, on March 
6th, and probably at Romsey also. It has been said that 
she was Abbess of Romsey. This is, by no means, un- 
likely, because of her kinship with the Founder, and her 
burial there. Her half-sister, St. Edburga, lived and died 
a member of the sister establishment of Saint Mary's, 
Winchester, and of her it is recorded that she not only 
became Abbess, but that finally her name was joined with 




i2 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



the name of the Blessed Virgin Mary as a Patron Saint 
of that House. St. Edburga died in the year 925 (?) ; her 
Obit was kept on 15th June, and her Translation on the 
1 8th July. Leland, quoting from an ancient writer, says 
"that Elfleda, Abbess of St. Mary's, re-covered the mortuary 
chest of St. Edburga with gold and silver." If the reference 
is to Romsey and to the daughter of Edward the Elder, it 
would go far to establish the supposition that ^Elfleda was 
an Abbess of Romsey. She must, however, be carefully 
distinguished from a later Abbess and Saint, whose name 
was coupled with the Blessed Virgin Mary as a Patron 
Saint of Romsey Abbey. 

These ladies, the daughters of Edward, and grand- 
daughters of Alfred, were not unworthy of the stock from 
which they sprang, and seem to have repaid the great care 
spent upon them. It is recorded that Edward the Elder 
carried on the traditions of his father and caused his 
children to be very carefully educated. " In childhood, 
his daughters gave their whole attention to literature, and 
afterwards employed themselves in the labours of the 
distaff and needle." There are vestments, including a 
stole, at Durham, which Athelstan, the son and successor 
of Edward, offered for the body of Saint Cuthbert. " The 
stole is woven in gold wire, with self-edged openings for 
the insertion of figures of the prophets and letters in 
tapestry work. On it is inscribed the sentence ' Aelflaed 
fieri praecepit pio episcopo Fridestana.' (sEljlced caused 
it to be made for the pious bishop, Frithestan) The two 
names inscribed show that this stole was worked by the 
ladies of the Court at Winchester, 910-915, when Edward's 
daughters were being educated there." Frithestan was 
Bishop of Winchester 909-931, and the ^Elflaed, here 
spoken of, was the Queen of Edward the Elder, and 
mother of ^Elfleda of Romsey. It may be that the young 



The Foundation. 



13 



Princesses took part in making these very vestments, and 
in any case these specimens of Saxon work exhibit a 
glimpse of the refined and elevating surroundings amidst 
which the daughters of Edward were brought up. 

There is no information available as to the Romsey 
Nunnery at this time, but the " little monastery " at 
Winchester may serve to illustrate the first fifty years of 
Romsey history. By the middle of the century Saint 
Mary's was nearly ruined, and was refounded under King 
Edgar by the energy of ^Ethelwold, Bishop of Winchester. 
Now Romsey was also refounded at the same time, and 
extensive additions were made to its possessions by King 
Edgar ; it is therefore likely that this house also had fallen 
upon bad times, and had sunk into decay. The decay was 
general ; the King declares, " All the monasteries in my 
realm, to the outward sight, are nothing but worm-eaten 
and rotten timber and boards ; and that worse is, they are 
almost empty and devoid of divine service." But if the 
decay was general, the reform and restoration of the 
monastic system was carried out with vigour and success. 
In after days, men looked back to the reign of Edgar the 
Peaceable as to a glorious time ; abundant epithets were 
attached to his name to express the feeling with which the 
peace and prosperity of the strong rule was regarded. The 
success of this rule depended greatly upon the vigorous 
ministers whom Edgar associated with himself ; the names 
of Dunstan, and ^Ethelwold Bishop of Winchester, are well 
known, and they carried their vigour not least into the 
reorganisation of the monasteries. In this work they were 
greatly assisted by Oswald, Bishop of Worcester, who had 
studied the revival of monastic discipline in the Benedictine 
houses abroad, by a residence at Fleury, the chief centre of 
the revival. 

In the year 964 the clergy of Saint Swithun's, Win- 



i 4 



Records of Romsey Abbey. 



Chester, were driven out, and regular monks of the 
Benedictine order were introduced ; and about the same 
time Saint Mary's in the same city was remodelled. 
Sometime before 966 the attention of the King and his 
ministers was given to Romsey ; in this year the King 
renewed the privileges of the Nunnery and confirmed to 
the sisters their liberty, so long as they should elect their 
Abbess according to the rule of Saint Benedict. 

" To the nuns, living according to the rule, I concede for ever the 
liberty of monastic privilege, so long after the death of the illustrious 
Abbess Merwenna (in whose time this restoration of liberty was 
conceded by the favour of Christ) as the liberty of this privilege is 
held successively in personal use by all ; the whole congregation of 
the aforesaid monastery, electing according as the rule instituted of 
the blessed Benedict appoints, shall elect an Abbess rightly out of the 
same company of sisters. Nor may anyone from outside, trusting to 
tyrannical contumacy in the aforesaid monastery and taking it by 
force, exercise the right of power in the aforesaid monastery." 

The King after speaking of their illustrious Abbess 
Merwenna, makes a reference to his Catholic predecessors, 
and confirms to the Monastery the lands granted by kings, 
and people of either sex. There is an interesting addition 
at the close of the Charter which recounts how for the 
wood belonging to this land, there was given to the King 
900 mancuses of golden marks in a goblet of wonderful 
workmanship, and in cups beautifully sculptured, and a 
case gorgeously decorated in gold. In 968 Edgar granted 
land at Edington and Ashton in Wiltshire, and freed it 
from all yoke of service with three exceptions, which are 
found in other charters of this period : military service, 
repair of bridges, and maintenance of fortifications. The 
King did not forget the poor, and alms were yearly distri- 
buted at the rate of £1 each between thirteen poor and 
feeble women, and seven old and feeble men, according to 
his foundation, and this was continued down to the time 
of the suppression of the Monasteries. 



The Foundation. 



1 5 



In 972 the King's son, Edmund Atheling, was buried at 
Romsey, and the saintly Merwenna found a resting-place 
here according to the Anglo-Saxon lists ; her obit was kept 
on 13th May, but the year of her death is unknown. One 
list mentions that Queen Batildis* was enshrined in Romsey 
Abbey ; the reference is probably to some portion of her 
body which was kept as a precious relic, as the custom was 
in those days. 

No doubt great interest was taken in the Royal 
Monastery, and many gifts were received ; a mysterious 
reference in the Charter of Edgar refers to " the golden 
crucifix, which speaks in Latin, and the evergreen boughs, 
an J?are goleggede (gold edged ?) hausej? mid golde, 
given to the same place." The text of this paragraph is 
said to be very corrupt. In 982 Ethelmere, the Governor 
of Hampshire, left £2 to the Monastery, an instance 
probably of many such bequests. 

Great as was Edgar's rule, the King does not seem 
to have been free from the faults of his age. Several 
stories of a scandalous nature have survived, and are to be 
found in the early writers. Possibly they are not all or 
entirely true, probably there was some cause for them. 

As a youth he had been brought up by Alfwen, the 
wife of Athelstan, the half-king of East Anglia, his foster 
brothers being the celebrated Ethelwold, yElfwold, and the 
pious ^Lthelwine, called " the friend of God," from his 
beneficence towards the religious. Ethelwold succeeded 
his father, and a legendary story paints both him and 
Edgar in very unpleasing colours. 

Sometime about 960 Edgar, then seventeen years old, 
heard of the beauty of a certain ^Ethelthryth or Elfrida, 

*This lady was of Saxon birth, the wife of one, Clovis the II, and the mother 
of three Frankish Kings. She was a great benefactor of Monasteries, and 
especially of Chelles, near Paris, where she was buried circa 678. 



1 6 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



the daughter of Ordgar, Duke of Devonshire. The story, 
as related by William of Malmesbury (12th century), is 
as follows : — " There was in his (Edgar's) time, one Athel- 
wold, a nobleman of celebrity, and one of his confidants ; 
him the King had commissioned to visit Elfrida, daughter 
of Ordgar, Duke of Devonshire (whose charms had so 
fascinated the eyes of some persons that they commended 
her to the King), and to offer her marriage, if her beauty 
were really equal to report. Hastening on his embassy, 
and finding everything consonant to general estimation, he 
concealed his mission from her parents, and procured the 
damsel for himself. Returning to the King, he told a tale 
which made for his own purpose, that she was a girl of 
vulgar and commonplace appearance, and by no means 
worthy of such transcendent dignity. When Edgar's heart 
was disengaged from this affair, and employed on other 
amours, some tattlers acquainted him how completely 
Athelwold had duped him by his artifices. Driving out 
one nail with another, that is returning him deceit for 
deceit, he showed the Earl a fair countenance, and, as in a 
sportive manner, appointed a day when he should visit 
this far-famed lady. Terrified almost to death with this 
dreadful pleasantry, he hastened before to his wife, 
entreating that she should administer to his safety by 
attiring herself as unbecomingly as possible ; then, first 
disclosing the intention of such a proceeding. But what 
did not this woman dare ? She was hardy enough to deceive 
the confidence of her miserable lover, her first husband, to 
adorn herself at the mirror and to omit nothing which 
could stimulate the desire of a young and powerful man. 
Nor did events happen contrary to her design ; for he fell 
so desperately in love with her the moment he saw her, 
that, dissembling his indignation, he sent for the Earl into 
a wood at Warewell, under pretence of hunting, and ran 
him through with a javelin." 



The Foundation. 



17 



Gaimar, in his historical poem of the twelfth century, 
gives a much more graphic and detailed account of this 
story. It is too long to quote at length, but two points are 
worth referring to. Gaimar relates that a son was born to 
Athelwold, and that because Athelwold feared the King he 
begged him to stand as godfather, thereby causing Edgar to 
become bound by ties of spiritual affinity to Elfrida, which 
he hoped would be an effectual check to any possibility of 
marriage. Gaimar adds that Elfrida never loved Athelwold, 
and would never have borne him a son if she could have 
helped it. Besides relating the birth of a child, Gaimar 
gives a different account of Athelwold's end. " The King 
had summoned the barons to guard the land. He sent 
Athelwold to York ; he entrusted him with the land in the 
north ; all judicature from the Humber northwards he 
committed to his command. Hastily and without delay 
he set out to direct (the affairs of) the country; he received 
such writs as he desired. Now Lord Edelwold departed. 
In going to this land he did not know what people he 
would meet there ; they were outlaws and enemies ; there 
then this wicked man was killed. Some say that King 
Edgar sent this company, but no one knows so much about 
it as to dare to affirm that it was he who killed him." 

The scandalous part of the story is rejected by modern 
historians, and it has been proved by Mr. E. W. Robertson, 
in his historical essays, that the King did not marry Elfrida 
till 964, two years after Ethelwold's death, which took place 
in 962. But it was worth the telling here, because it 
introduces both persons and places intimately connected 
with Romsey Abbey. 

Ethelwold had married as his first wife a lady of noble 
descent — Brithwina — by whom he had several children. 
His youngest daughter, either by her or by his second wife, 
Elfrida, was baptized by the name of ^Ethelflaeda. Before 

c 



1 8 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



her father died, and while he lay sick, he commanded his 
wife (Elfrida ?) to found Romsey Monastery, and dedicate 
it in honour of Mary the Mother of God, in the town in 
which they were then living. On his death his wife, not 
forgetful of his command, gave their house at Clare to 
Romsey Church. This property may without doubt be 
identified with the land held by Romsey, at Sydmanton, in 
the Hundred of Clere Regis or Kingsclere in North 
Hampshire. The Manor formed part of the Abbey's 
possessions at the time when Doomesday was compiled, 
and continued in the hands of the Convent down to the 
suppression of the Monasteries. One account says that 
^Ethelflaeda was not born until after her father's death. 
If this be so her mother must have been Elfrida the 
celebrated beauty of Devonshire. That this lady married 
again two years after her husband's death is a fact of 
history. She became Queen in spite of the rule that 
second marriages were uncanonical and that priests were 
forbidden to bless such unions. Archbishop Dunstan 
appears to have reproved the royal couple and to have 
besought them to part, but in vain. 

Except for the mystery of her birth, the story of 
TEthelflseda's life is fairly plain and straightforward. " As 
she grew in years so she grew without care for earthly 
things, but owing to her step-mother's second marriage, 
and the gift of Clare to Romsey, she became destitute, 
which, Edgar hearing of, he, with the consent of the Queen, 
placed her at Romsey, under the care of the saintly 
Merwenna, whom he had made Abbess of that house." 
Here she took the veil, and was consecrated by Bishop 
^Ethelwold, sometime before Edgar's death in 975, when 
she would have been at least thirteen years old. 

The following account of the Saint is taken from a 

MS. once in the Library of Romsey Convent, and now to 



The Foundation. 



19 



be found amongst the B.M. MSS., Lands, No. 436. It is 
described in the catalogue as belonging to the fourteenth 
century, and contains a chronicle of the Saxon Kings and 
the Lives of English Saints, there are forty-seven lives, of 
which the sixteenth is headed thus : — 

fiere fceains tbe account of Saint flirieda and 
Saint rcenoinna, Virains and Abbesses* 

During the reign of Edgar, the illustrious and most 
Christian King of the English, there was a certain 
nobleman, by name Edwold, who, on account of his 
probity and tried fidelity, seemed to the King to excel all 
the rest of the courtiers of the royal service. 

The King therefore gave to him in marriage Brichgiva, 
a young lady discreet in manners and handsome in form, 
and near of kin to his wife, Queen Elfrida. This lady had 
by him a large family of sons and daughters. Now, before 
the birth of her last daughter, in sign that she should be a 
child of light and worthy of God, the mother saw in a 
dream a ray of the glorious sun break forth above her head. 
In due time she gave birth to a daughter, re-born by the 
Holy Spirit through Baptism, by the Christian name 
Athelfleda. Who, born and re-born, was always pleasing 
to Christ, because the more she grew in age and stature, 
so much the more fully was she without desire for carnal 
pleasures. Which King Edgar hearing of, and not un- 
mindful of the probity and fidelity of the dead Ethelwold, 
delivered the daughter Athelfleda, who was near of kin to the 
Queen, to the Blessed Merwenna, Abbess of the Monastery 
of Romsey, which he had constructed, to be brought up by 
her. After a time the Blessed Merwynna, having proved 
her to be active in the works of saintliness and obedience, 
recognised her as one who would undoubtedly profit under 
God's favour in the church. She therefore cherished her 



20 



Records of Romsey Abbey. 



with the privilege of so great a love, that in going out and 
coming in, by day and by night, she desired to have her 
continually in attendance. And right well did Abbess 
Merwynna behave as a most sweet mother to Ethelfleda, 
and Ethelfleda as a most loving daughter to Merwynna. 
The one taught the way of the Lord in truth as a most 
modest mother, and the other, by entire obedience as a 
dutiful daughter, retained zealously what she had been 
taught. The one, as a torch of light, showed the way 
without error along the path of righteousness, the other, 
delighting in such a leader, followed without stumbling. 
The one on fasting days chastened her body by hunger, 
the other, whatever by abstinence from food she withheld 
from the body, she distributed to the poor in secret. 

The King and Queen, pleased with her saintliness, with 
the consent of the Blessed Merwynna, caused her to be 
consecrated by the Bishop of Winchester, of good memory. 
And she lived henceforward under Abbess Merwynna for 
some time, abundant in virtues, generous in alms, constant 
in watches, in speech vigilant, in mind humble, of joyful 
countenance, and kindly mannered to the poor, And 
that she might hide her saintliness and be able to help 
the destitute, she pretended at table among her com- 
panions to drink when she did not drink, and to eat when 
she did not eat, hiding in her sleeves the food which she 
was intending to bestow upon the poor. 

Applying herself constantly to prayer, she loved the 
ecclesiastical and regular institutions, insomuch that she 
would never hear or say the canonical hours, as long as 
she lived the cloister life with the convent sisters, except 
within the church, nor would she omit any Hour on 
account of any secular business, nor be hindered by the 
greatest indisposition of body. In the church, the Blessed 
Ethelfleda in the singing and reading which were enjoined 



The Foundation. 



21 



her was careful to fulfil her turn without a murmur. How 
acceptable to God her service was, He deigned to show by 
a glorious miracle. On her night for reading the lesson 
after receiving the benediction she approached the pulpit, 
but the lamp which she took in her hand to give light for 
reading was extinguished, I do not say by chance, but by 
the providence of God, as the sequel showed. O, great 
grace of God ! abundant mercy did not permit light in 
darkness to be without light. For such brilliance shone 
around from the fingers of the right hand of Ethelfleda, 
the handmaiden of God, that it gave the clearest light 
to those around, and ministered to the reading very 
brilliantly. Nor did the heavenly splendour pass away 
before the lesson was entirely read by the servant of 
God, and the earthly light brought in. Wherefore it is 
to be ascribed to the finger of God that those fingers 
were illuminated, which, as is believed, were wholly free 
from unlawful touch. 

It happened once on a time that her teacher went into 
a plantation of saplings, near to the house, where Athelfleda 
with the rest of the young girls was accustomed to study. 
Now whilst the mistress alone and without any witness 
was privately cutting the switches, the Blessed Athelfleda 
miraculously saw through the wall of the stone house, as 
through a glass, the saplings in the hands of the mistress 
cut for beating herself or her companions, which, tied up 
into bundles, she feared no less for them than for herself. 
But the mistress returning and bearing the switches, con- 
cealed and secretly, has scarcely crossed the threshold of 
the house when her scholar, having cast herself at her feet, 
exclaimed in a loud but firm voice, with many tears, " Do 
not, Mistress, do not beat us with the switches : we will 
sing and chant at your pleasure, willingly, as much or as 
long as you wish or command. When we gladly carry 



22 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



out orders, why do you beat us?" The mistress, wondering 
beyond measure how her scholar became possessed of her 
secret, said, " Rise up my daughter, rise up, and show 
me how you know that I have brought any switches." 
And she said, " I saw you under the tree whence you 
plucked them, and you still hold them under your cloak." 
It was found by careful enquiry that what was done by 
the mistress could not have been known by the scholar, 
save through the Holy Spirit, who works in each one 
according to His Will, and that the sight of this (girl) 
pierced the thickness of a stone wall, by the power of God, 
who caused the eyes of the man born blind to be opened, 
so that the blind could miraculously see. 

Now the blessed Ethelfleda made a custom of going 
every night outside the dormitory, where it seemed to her 
that she could most conveniently and secretly immerse 
herself naked in the cold water of a fountain or in the bed 
of the running stream, and stay in for so long as time 
permitted, chanting the Davidic Psalms, many or few, 
together with some prayers in addition. It happened once, 
that, on account of her good fame, the Queen called the 
blessed Ethelfleda to herself and kept her honourably 
in her chamber. She unwillingly made some little stay 
there, always fearful lest the deceitful pleasure of earthly 
vanities, — which she often saw practised around the Queen, 
as the manner is, in dress, behaviour, and other things, 
which are called by the gay, refinement, but which hinder 
from holy religion, — should recall her mind from her holy 
purpose. On her first arrival, sitting on a terrace and 
looking round, she saw, near the chamber, a spring of fresh 
water. To this she went every night without delay, as had 
been her custom elsewhere, secretly, when the others in the 
chamber were sleeping, by door or by window, as seemed 
most convenient, and, having undressed, she chanted and 



The Foundation. 



23 



prayed in the water as long as was possible to her. At 
length, having returned, she was found in the morning in 
bed like the others, apparently sleeping as though she had 
done nothing else through the whole night. One night, 
however, when the Queen could not sleep for thinking, she 
saw the holy woman go alone and without witness from 
the room, and, not knowing her secret, she imagined her to 
be going out for immodest purposes at such an hour of the 
night, rather than for any other cause. The handmaid of 
God went out, and the Queen followed. The one, having 
made the sign of the Cross in the water, sprang in, and the 
other, perhaps seeing a sign in the heavens, was distracted 
with excessive amazement, and returning to the threshold 
of the chamber, screamed loudly and fell to the ground. 
Those who were by gathered round her in wonder, and 
took her into their arms, but she, utterly wanting her 
senses, tossed about in their hands, as if frantic. But, 
whereas the cause was quite unknown to the others, it was 
revealed from heaven to the holy virgin alone ; who, 
thinking over the matter silently, immediately prostrated 
herself on the ground and mingled tears with her prayer 
without ceasing, until the Queen was restored to her former 
health, and said constantly, among the other words of her 
prayer, " Lord, direct my prayer in Thy sight, and lay not 
this sin to her charge, who knows not what she has done." 

In course of time, when the blessed Ethelfleda was 
renowned for miracles such as this, Saint Merwynna, the 
Abbess dear to God, departed this life to Christ, and 
Ethelfleda, the handmaid of God, succeeded her in the 
office of prelate, although not immediately. By so much 
as she was placed above others, so much the more did she 
seem to be an example of humility and saintliness. She 
delighted especially in exercising works of mercy towards 
the poor, of which hear what happened. One of the 



24 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



bailiffs, to whose keeping the tenements of the church were 
committed, who was her household servant, placed in the 
coffers of the Abbess, for safe keeping, the whole payment 
which he was bound to render in one year for his custody. 
The handmaid of God, however, whose care was ever of 
the poor, withdrew from the coffers, little by little, and 
distributed to the needy all the money committed to her, 
and when it became time for the bailiffs to render account 
of rents received for the whole year to the steward who 
was placed over them, the servant demanded back the 
money which he had delivered to the Lady Abbess. But 
of the squandered money only one farthing was found. 
The bailiff, in anxiety, did not know what to do and the 
Abbess was placed in no less difficulty. She blushed to 
make public her expenses, and could charge them neither 
to her subtlety or extravagance, and much less to the 
religion, which, above all things, she desired to hide. What 
shall she do? With whom shall she seek refuge? With 
Him assuredly, who is the Helper of those in tribulation 
and anxiety, in whose service also the whole spending of 
the money had been carried out. The Blessed Ethelfleda, 
purposing moreover with great earnestness to defend the 
innocence of her young servant from infamy, directed her 
prayer to the Lord, in whom she had ever placed her whole 
hope, with great confidence, and said : " God who hast 
created all things out of nothing, and has caused all things 
created by Thee wonderfully to obey Thy commands, 
multiply on us Thy mercy, Who dost not forsake those 
who hope in Thee I, indeed, have hoped in Thee, and 
Thou hast not withheld from my desire. And now, so 
direct this matter, that I shall not be confounded ; and, if 
not hearkened to by Thee, I shall be put into exceeding 
confusion, like to those who begin a building, and, not 
having first reckoned the cost, are not able to finish, and so 



The Foundation. 



25 



my enemies will laugh me to scorn. God, who multipliest 
the things which we have, and wonderfully restorest the 
lost, restore the money spent on the needy to the honour 
of Thy Name. For Thou hast said, ' What thou hast done 
to one of My little ones, thou hast done to Me.' " What 
more? The prayer ended, the coffers, previously empty, 
were found full of money, and the bailiff, having been 
called, the whole money was restored to him with great 
joy. The servant, in despair before, ran, without doubt, to 
his reckoning, The holy virgin, indeed, hastily directed 
her way to the Church in order to render thanks to the 
most high God, who looked on her humility and snatched 
her from confusion, and said, " God, Thou filled the cruise 
of oil lest it should fail, and multiplied five loaves so that 
they sufficed for five thousand men, to this day Thou hast 
not forgotten to do marvellous things, but hast restored the 
money delivered to me and spent. Blessed be Thy Name, 
both now and ever, world without end. Amen." 

After these things the Blessed Ethelfleda, renowned for 
miracles and full of virtues, departed this life 10 Kal. 
November [23rd October], going from the body of this 
death to life, from temporal pain to unfading glory. A 
great multitude of women buried the pious virgin outside 
the sacred oratory, as she herself had directed, for she did 
not appoint for herself a tomb in a more conspicuous place, 
whom vain glory had never prevailed on to err. As she 
had preferred a life of humility under regular discipline, 
so, in the time of her dissolution, she chose humble burial 
out of doors in the porch (atrio-churchyard). And thus, 
Ethelfleda, an uncorruptible and glorious virgin, rested for 
some time in the same place in which she was buried, but, 
afterwards, miracles having increased, she was translated 
into the church with fitting honour [27th January], where 
Christ, on account of the merits of his spouse, bestows 



26 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



immediate benefits on those who ask, "to the praise and 
glory of His Name, to whom be honour and dominion, 
world without end." 

When the illustrious Abbess Merwynna died, Ethelfleda 
did not at once take her place, a certain Elwina succeeded 
her. This lady, " prostrate before the Altar in prayer, 
was counted worthy to hear a voice falling from heaven 
(which told) of the coming of the Danes to the Monastery 
of Romsey on the next evening. And she, gathering up 
the relics and other posssesions, fled with the sisters to 
Winchester," and was hospitably received by the Nuns of 
Saint Mary's. " So Swanus, the king of the Danes, with 
his son Canute, coming to these parts, destroyed what was 
left by fire and sword." 

The Saxon Chronicle describes how, in 994, after 
fruitlessly besieging London, the Danes " wrought the 
utmost evil that ever army could do, by burning and 
plundering and by man-slaying, both by sea and coast, 
and among the East Saxons, and in the land of Kent and 
in Sussex and in Hampshire." A description of a similar 
raid in the year 1006, found in the same Chronicle, paints 
in a graphic way the terror of the times. "And then, in 
mid-winter, .... throughout Hampshire, into Berkshire, 
and to Reading ; and they did their old wont ; they lighted 

war beacons as they went they joined battle and 

they soon brought that band to flight, and afterwards 
carried their booty to the sea. But there might the Win- 
chester men see an army, daring and fearless, as they went 
by their gates towards the sea, and fetched themselves food 
and treasures over fifty miles." Milner dates Elvvina's 
flight in 992; the Victorian County History, possibly owing 
to the mention of the young Canute, who was born about 
994, dates the flight of the nuns during the terrible years 



The Foundation. 



27 



succeeding the massacre of the Danes on Saint Brice's 
day, 13th November, 1002 ; if, however, Elwina succeeded 
in 993, the date would be the raid of 994. Elwina re- 
mained Abbess for only three years, and the Holy Virgin 
Elfleda, beloved of the sisters, was elected in her place ; 
she lived many years, and died in a good old age on 
the 23rd October. In the quaint words of an old MS. : 
"After that she had by long well-doing freighted and 
replenished herself with virtuous treasure and celestial 
riches withall, she sayled safely out of this world and 
happily arrived at the Heavenly porte." 

In the Romsey Psalter there are three dates in the 
Calendar relating to the Saint. Her feast, entered in red 
letters, on the 23rd October, her translation on the 27th 
January, and the Revelacio on the 10th March. 

A Collect is added at the end of Capgrave's life : — 
"(O) gloriosa virgo sponsaque dei Elfleda, pro nobis dominum 
regem celorum supplicamus rogita. Ora pro nobis." 

" Deus, qui presentem diem nobis honorabilem in beate Elflede 
deposicione fecisti, illius meritis optinentibus salva nos per indul- 
genciam, qui nos dignatus es salvare per graciam per 

In a Benedictional of the eleventh century, once 
belonging to Romsey Abbey, and now amongst the Add. 
MSS. in the B.M. (No. 28,188), her name occurs both in the 
greater and lesser Litany " Sea ^Egelflaed or." Her feast 
continued to be observed in Romsey, and a fair was held, 
and at some time unknown her name was coupled with 
that of the Blessed Virgin in the dedication of the 
Abbey. Her name is found with Merwynna's, the former 
fourteenth and the latter ninth, in a list of illustrious 
women, who, by their interest or gifts, commended them- 
selves to the prayers of the Monastery of Hyde, Winchester. 

In the book in which this list is found, the Register and 
Martyrology of Hyde, a very precious piece of information 



28 



Records of Romsey Abbey. 



is preserved about Romsey, at a time when nothing is 
known about the Abbey. The names of two abbesses are 
enrolled and those of fifty-two sisters. 



NOMINA SORORUM HRUMENSIS CgNOBII. 



i. 


Pulfynn abbatissa il 


lius sancti coenobii . 


ii. 


JElfgyfa abbatissa . 


xxix. 


Hildeburh . 


iii. 


/Elflaed . 


xxx. 


Osparu . 


iiii. 


iElfgyfu . 


xxxi. 


ALKgyft . 


v. 


Pulflaed . 


xxxii. 


PulfJ?ryS . 


vi. 


^Elfgyfu . 


xxxiii. 


^Elfleof . 


vii. 


^Elfhild . 


xxxiiii. 


Eadgyft . 


viii. 


^Elflaed . 


xxxv. 


JElfgyfu . 


ix. 


EadgyS . 


xxxvi. 


^ESelhild . 


X. 


vElflaed . 


xxxvii. 


Pulf)?ry$ . 


xi. 


;Ej?elflaed . 


xxxviii. 


PulfspryS . 


xii. 


Byrhflaed . 


xxxix. 


^E)?elgyfu . 


xiii. 


^lflaed . 


xl. 


pilspyS . 


xiiii. 


Eadgyfu . 


xli. 


^lflaed . 


XV. 


JEtfgyfu . 


xlii. 


Leofsydu . 


xvi. 


Eadgyfu . 


xliii. 


JEtfgyK . 


xvii. 


Byrhtgyfu . 


xliiii. 


iElfgyfu . 


xviii. 


^E]?elgyfu . 


xlv. 


Eadgyj? . 


xix. 


^Elfgyfu . 


xlvi. 


Pyngifu . 


XX. 


^lfhild . 


xlvii. 


pulfrun . 


xxi. 


iE]?elpyn . 


xlviii. 


Godgyfu . 


xxii. 


^Elfgyfu . 


xlix. 


JE]>e\gyfu . 


xxiii. 


yElflaed . 


1. 


Pulflaed . 


xxiiii. 


Ase . 


li. 


Byrhflaed . 


XXV. 


Eadgyfu . 


Hi. 


;Elfrun . 


xxvi. 


Pulflaed . 


Iiii. 


MXtyryK . 


xxvii. 


pulfrun . 


liiii. 


Eadgyfu . 


xxviii. 


EadgyS . 







This list was inserted when the Register was drawn up 
(1016-25) and therefore, there can be little doubt that 



The Foundation. 



29 



these Abbesses succeeded Abbess ^Ethaelfleda, and the 
succession of Romsey rulers is carried on to the close of 
the first quarter of the eleventh century. 

This list of the Sisters of Romsey in the Register and 
Martyrology of New Minster and Hyde Abbey, following, 
as it does, similar lists of Abingdon and Ely Monks, 
makes it probable that Romsey was united by an agree- 
ment of spiritual confraternity with Hyde Abbey. There is 
certain evidence that it was so united with Saint Swithun's, 
Winchester. In a chartulary of that house (B.M., Add. 
MSS., 29436, ff 446, b 45), Romsey, Wherwell, Abingdon, 
Chertsey, Tewkesbury, and many other places, are described 
as having entered into compact with Saint Swithun's. It 
is also certain that Romsey was united with Durham in 
similar bonds of confraternity in the fifteenth century, and 
no doubt with many other places from early days, as this 
custom, beginning amongst the religious houses in the 
eighth century, extended to the sixteenth. 

An Anglo-Saxon agreement between certain bishops 
and abbots, enumerating the terms of a fellowship in early 
days, declares that each member when he celebrated Mass 
" shall separately commemorate with three collects his 
fellow-brotherhood, and orders a separate Mass to be said 
for the associates." Another agreement mentions " prayers 
and good deeds." Mr. de Gray Birch speaks of " the mem- 
bers of one house entering into a binding agreement with 
those of the other to share its joys and fears, to lean 
mutually upon each other for moral and spiritual support, 
and to benefit by the ghostly exercises and worldly experi- 
ences of their fellow-labourers in the field of Christ." 
Whilst these unions for mutual prayer and service had 
in view the welfare of the living, they did not exclude but 
rather expressly included the departed. Some agreements 
indeed refer only to the departed, and possibly these were 



30 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



the more numerous. The chief known agreements with 
Romsey are of this nature, and consisted of offices and 
masses for the dead. 

An elaborate system grew up, whereby a messenger was 
despatched from a monastery once a year, bearing a Roll 
inscribed with the names of the deceased members. He 
went the round of the houses in confraternity, who wel- 
comed him, and treated him as one of their own members, 
The roll was taken to the scriptorium, and the acknowledg- 
ment of its reception was inscribed, and an assurance given 
that the services would be duly performed. Then the 
messenger, called " breviger," " rotularius," or " rollifer," was 
speeded on his way to the next house, and he passed from 
place to place, sometimes crossing the sea before he might 
return to the monastery which sent him. Some of these 
rolls contain an immense number of names of monasteries. 
A Durham Roll, sent to Romsey in the fifteenth century, 
was thirteen yards long, nine inches broad, and was made 
up of nineteen sheets of parchment ; it contained an illus- 
tration of the death and burial of one of the Priors of 
Durham, three feet in length. Another Roll, or "Titulus" 
as it was called, of the Nunnery of Lillechurch at Higham 
in Kent, went the round of 360 religious houses. 

ROMSEY ENTRIES ON THE DURHAM ROLLS. 

No. 230. — Titulus Monasterii Beatas Mariae de Romesey, Ordinis 
St. Ben : Wynton Dioc : 

Anima domini Wilhelmi Ebchestre 1 et anima domini Johannis 
Burnbury, 2 et animas omnium fidelium defunctorum, per miserecor- 
diam Dei in pace requiescant. 

Vestris nostra damus, pro nostris 
Vestra rogamus. 

[The entry was made after Mottisfont and before S. Swithun's, 
Winchester. Fair legible hand.] 



1 Resigned 1456. 



2 © 17 Oct. 1464. 



The Foundation. 



3i 



No. 118— Romeseye, Eccles : St. Marias et St. Ethelffledas. 

[For Bp. Walter Skirlaw. 141 6. The entry was made after 
Lettele [i.e. Netley] and Southampton and before Motisfonte and 
Werewell. Superior hand.] 

No. 338. — Romesey, Mon. St. Mariae et St. Ethelfledas virg : — Ben : 
Wynt : Dioc : 

[For Prior John Hemmingburgh. 1416. The entry was made 
after S. Denys, Southampton, and before Lettele. Superior hand.] 

No. 236. — Romesey, Eccl : Beatae Marias Virg : et Monalium, Ord : 
St. Bened : 

[For Prior Robert Ebchester. 1484. Superior hand.] 

From the order of the places and names it appears that 
the messenger of Roll 1, came by Mottisfont and went on 
to Winchester ; he of Roll 2, came via Netley and South- 
ampton and went on to Mottisfont and Wherwell ; Roll 3, 
was brought from S. Denis, Southampton, and carried from 
Romsey to Netley. The Romsey entry in the first Roll 
is described as in a fair legible hand, the other three Rolls 
have Romsey entries in a superior hand ; and it may be 
assumed therefore that the Abbey possessed both at the 
beginning and close of the fifteenth century an excellent 
scribe. 



Records of Romsey Abbey. 



REFERENCES. 
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. 
William of Malmesbury, Gesta Pont. 
E. W. Robertson, Historical Essays. 

Liber de Hyda, p. 112. Fourteenth century compilation. 
Hyde Register, or Liber Vitae. Walter de Gray Birch. Eleventh 
century. 

Victorian County History. — Hants. 

Horstmann, Nova Legenda ; Lives of Women Saints. 

Stanton, Menology. 

The Guardian. 3rd July, 1901. 

Leland, Quotation from Osbert of Clare. 

De Gray Birch, Charters, and Fasti Saxon Abbotts. 

Gaimar, Historical Poem. 

Rad. de Diceto, Vol. I, p. 141 ; Vol. II, p. 211. Twelfth century. 
Ric. de Hoveden, Vol. 1, p. 62. Twefth century. 
Durham Rolls. 

MSS. 

The Romsey Psalter and Calendar. Circa a.d. 1440. 
B. M. Lansdowne, No. 436, f. 43 b-45 b. Fourteenth century. 
Cotton, Tib. E. 1, John of Tynmouth's Sanctilogium. 
Cotton, Otho, D. IX, Capgrave. Before 1464. Printed by W. de 
Worde, 15 16. 

Robert Buckland's MSS. Quoted by Wilson, 1608 and 1640. B. M. 

Press Mark, 1125, a. 13 and 14. 
Romsey Benedictional, B. M. Add. 28,188. 
Cotton, Vit. E. XVIII. Circa a.d. 1031. Eleventh century. 

,, ,, A. II. Twelfth century. 
Titus D. XXVII. 1034-1357. 
Reg. 2 A. XIII, fol. 42. 1220-1224. 

Corpus Christi, Cambridge, MS. No. 201 ; and see Hicks' Epistles, 
Vol. III. 

Bishop's English Saints. 5 vols, of collections. Add 36, 598-36, 602. 
Edington Chartulary, B. M. Lansdowne, 442. 



CHAPTER III. 



A.D. IO25 IIl8. 

THE SAXON PRINCESSES. 



' ' The Letters of Queen Matilda to Archbishop 
Anselm, and her charitable deeds, throw light 
on the Latinity of the Romsey pupil, and on 
the tastes she had imbibed there." 

L. ECKENSTEIN, Women under Monasticism. 



D 



Chapter III. 



THE SAXON PRINCESSES* 



EW facts have come to light to indicate the condition 



of the Monastery during the first three-quarters of 
the eleventh century. The nuns, according to the story 
of Abbess Elwina's flight, related in the last chapter, had 
been driven out by the marauding Danes. This event 
occurred either at the close of the tenth or the beginning 
of the eleventh century. The sisters, no doubt, returned 
at the earliest possible date and certainly before Cnut 
ascended the throne in 1017, for Queen Emma, in 1012, 
when she was still the wife of Ethelred the Unready, gave 
lands to Romsey. The charter is printed in Kemble's 
Collection, and the words are as follows: "This year (1012) 
^Elfgyfu (i.e., Elgiva or Emma) gave or bequeathed thaes 
landaes set Hwsetaedunae into Rummaesigae Christe and 
Sanctan Marian." Not only was a return made to Romsey, 
but by 1016-1025 there was an exceedingly flourishing 
society in the Convent, consisting of fifty-four nuns. This 
is proved by the list of their names in the Hyde Register, 
printed in the preceding chapter. 

The Convent may be supposed to have continued in 
safety for the next forty years and more, since Edward the 
Confessor (1042-66) made a gift to it of Northuenda, and 
William the Conqueror confirmed the ancient rights of the 
Abbey, to which reference is made in a Charter of Henry I : 




36 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



" I command," says King Henry, " that all the land of the 
Abbey of Romsey within the bridge of Bradebridge 
(Broadbridge) may be as quit as her demesne court from 
all things, and namely from murder, which is demanded in 
it from the Hundred of Sumburna, as ever it was better quit 
in the time of William the King, my father, and of my 
brother, and in my time." This confirmation means that 
the Abbess had, from early times, a jurisdiction apart from 
the Hundred Court of King's Somborne, and was privileged 
to try criminals within her own domain. Another reference 
to the Conqueror or William Rufus is found in a confirma- 
tion of Charters by Henry II : he grants that "the land de 
la Wycke, which William de Falesia gave to Romsey with 
his daughter, may be held by the Abbey as freely as it has 
all its other land, and as it was more quit in the time of 
King William and in the time of King Henry, my grand- 
father, and as the Charter of King William testifies." 

That the convent, besides carrying on its manorial 
privileges fully and freely during the eleventh century, was 
not unmindful of its adornment, may be gathered from two 
interesting works of sculpture, which have happily survived 
the wear of time and the destructive fanaticism of image 
breakers. The remarkable rood, which is now placed in 
the apse of the south choir aisle, is of Saxon work, and is 
thought to belong to about the year 1030. It is of 
Byzantine character, the figure having straight unbent 
limbs. In addition to the usual attendant figures of the 
Blessed Virgin and S. John, there are two soldiers standing 
beneath the Cross, the one having a spear and the other 
presenting the sponge full of vinegar to the Crucified. In 
1742, this rood is described as: "by itself, behind the 
communion table, on the south wall." 

The other work of early sculpture is to be found built 
into the west wall of the south transept and placed close 



The Saxon Princesses. 



37 



to the great entrance from the Cloisters. It depicts the 
single figure of the Saviour crucified, with the Dextera Dei 
above. The figure is not quite life-size, and is of the 
Byzantine pattern, with unbent limbs ; the work is of 
Norman character, and therefore probably belongs to the 
latter part of the eleventh century. Amongst Mr. Carter's 
original sketches, now in the MS. Department of the British 
Museum, there is a representation of this Crucifix slightly 
coloured. This sketch was made in 1781, and then, as now, 
part of the right arm was injured. At that time this part 
of the Churchyard was walled off for a small private 
burying ground for poor strangers. There is a tradition 
in Romsey that at one time this corner was let by the 
Churchwardens to a general dealer, who erected a shed 
here which covered the rood and may have aided in its 
preservation. Near the rood is a small cupboard cut out of 
the stone wall of the transept, with a chimney and aperture 
of three holes, showing that it was used for a light to be 
kept continually burning. Many ladies, and some of noble 
blood, have, in days gone by, bent the knee to their 
" Supreme Lord " when passing this representation of His 
Passion on their way to the Church for the Daily Offices. 
What history the stones around could tell if they had but 
voices to describe the events which they have witnessed ! 

The first of these roods adorned the ancient Saxon 
church, but what that church was like it is difficult to 
say. Probably when Edgar re-founded the Monastery in 
966-7 a stone church was built. This conjecture leads on 
to another made by a discovery in 1900, when parts of the 
tower and nave floors were taken up for repairs. Mr. Peers 
describes how a great deal of broken building material was 
found along the line of both nave arcades of the present 
church. These fragments do not stand alone as indica- 
tions of an earlier church ; the taking up of the floor also 



38 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



revealed the existence of a fine apse. The foundations 
of this apse are of a very substantial character, the 
wall being 4 ft. 9 k thick. This apse is as wide as the 
present tower and stands just beneath it. The masonry is 
said to have " the look of Norman work." Mr. Peers, when 
examining these fragments, noted that two bays of the 
south nave aisle are built of masonry of an earlier character 
than that of the present church, and he suggested that 
these bays, together with the apse, belong to about the 
year 1090, when some distinguished members of the old 
Saxon royal family were resident as inmates of the 
Convent, and brought, as it is likely, some wealth with 
them. If the apse is of Norman work it would have been 
built to take the place of the earlier Saxon square end, 
either in 1090 or some years earlier. That alterations took 
place in the arrangement of the Saxon church about 1090 
may be inferred from the two early Norman bays 
mentioned above. The church, before this date, was either 
Edgar's church as it was first built, or as it was restored 
after the Danish raid (994-1006). It would have consisted 
of a plain cruciform church of the Dover or Repton type. 
Then, with the accession of wealth, the Norman apse was 
erected in 1090, and the walls of the nave were pierced 
and aisles added, which would account for the quantity of 
building material still to be found along the line of the 
present nave arches. 1 

This restored church continued until the present great 
church was built around it about 1120, the two bays in the 
south nave aisle being the only fragments of any account 
that have survived above ground. Their survival may be 
due to the fact that the cloisters abutted on them, and that 
it was found more convenient to incorporate these into the 
new church than to pull them down. 

1 These conjectures are, of course, uncertain, but the ancient apse may still 
be seen by lifting a trap door under the present tower. 



The Saxon Princesses. 



39 



In the year 1086, a date made notable by the com- 
pletion of Domesday, Christina, the daughter of Edmund 
Ironside, and sister of Edgar Atheling, and of S. Margaret, 
Queen of Scotland, took the veil at Romsey. Her lands 
are found in Domesday ; one estate in Warwickshire had 
been held by Earl Eadwine ; of another it is said distinctly 
" Rex dedit Christinse." This lady has been spoken of by 
some writers as Abbess of Romsey, but there is no evidence 
whatever to prove the fact, though her royal descent would 
make it likely. 

Her presence at Romsey opens an interesting chapter 
in the Abbey history. The two daughters of Malcolm 
Canmore and the saintly Margaret, the King and Queen of 
Scotland, Eadgyth (Matilda) and Mary, were sent to their 
aunt Christina at Romsey to be educated. Eadgyth was 
born in 1080, her God-father being Earl Robert, who is 
known to have been in Scotland in the autumn of that 
year. At what date the young princesses came under the 
care of their aunt is unknown, but there is little doubt that 
they were with her in 1093, when Eadgyth would have 
been about twelve years old. Christina seems to have 
been severe with the young princesses, and to have used 
blows if she thought the occasion required it. In a 
reminiscence of her young days, Eadgyth recalls how, for 
an act of disobedience, her aunt was accustomed to hurt 
and disgrace her by sharp blows and detestable taunts. 
But the education received by these young girls was of a 
high order, as will appear on a subsequent page. The 
particular cause, which called down this severe chastise- 
ment, was the young princess' refusal to wear a nun's veil, 
which Christina insisted on placing upon her head as a 
protection against the rough license of the times. 

There is an astounding story of William Rufus, which 
gives point to Christina's anxiety for her niece. The story 
as related by Mr. Freeman is as follows : — " When Matilda 



40 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



was a little more than twelve years old, the Abbess hears 
that King William has come to see the princess. In the 
case of any decent King such a visit would surely have 
been neither scandalous nor wonderful. The King is at 
the Abbey gate with his knights, and asks to have it 
opened. The Abbess fears that he may conceive some 
bad purpose towards the maiden, but hopes that he will 
respect her if she wears the monastic veil. She therefore 
persuades Eadgyth to veil for the time. Then, welcoming 
the King, she invites him to visit her garden and see her 
roses. The King goes into the cloisters as if to look at 
the flowers. He sees Eadgyth with the veil, and goes 
away, showing, according to the Abbess, that his visit had 
been on her account alone." 

The story of the Abbess' anxiety and suspicions, her 
clever tact, and the evident pleasure she evinces over her 
success is delightful, if the tale be true ; but the author 
Hermann, though he says he had it from Anselm himself, 
was a foreigner, and wrote long after the event. " It may 
be," says Mr. Freeman, " that the Abbess did not know 
the secrets of the Red King's Court, and reckoned him 
among ordinary instead of extraordinary sinners. This 
is, as far as I know, the only time in history or legend in 
which William Rufus is brought into connexion with any 
woman. Such a tale must be taken for what it is worth, 
but the picture of William Rufus contemplating either 
maidens or roses at least puts him in a light in which we 
do not meet him elsewhere." 

William is known to have been at Winchester in this 
year, 1093 ; and the princess' father, King Malcolm, visited 
Gloucester on 24th August of the same year, and very 
possibly visited his daughter at Romsey, for both Hermann 
and a much more trustworthy writer, Eadmer, say that, 
"seeing her with the veil, he tears it from her head, and 




[Photo 1906. 

NORMAN ROOD, SITE OF CLOISTER. 



See p. 37. j 



The Saxon Princesses. 



4i 



says that he does not mean her to be a nun, but to be the 
wife of Count Alan," i.e., Count Alan the Black, second 
Lord of Richmond. The King of Scotland died in the 
following winter, 13th November, and his saintly Queen a 
fortnight after, 27th November, and their children were 
now driven out of the country by the Scottish people. 
The young princesses, who had probably accompanied 
their father home on his return from Gloucester, now, with 
the help of Edgar Atheling, came back to the south to 
Winchester, or Romsey. 

"The story of the Veil," is not however finished ; another, 
and with all his faults, a better man, sought Eadgyth in 
marriage. The brother of Rufus, the clerkly Henry, was 
crowned in 1100. He had been the Princess' lover for 
some time, and his affection was reciprocated, according to 
the best accounts, and policy went hand in hand with 
affection. It was no slight advantage if the old Saxon 
stock could be united with the new Norman house, making 
one royal family. But there was the difficulty of " the 
veil." In Archbishop Anselm's words, " If she were a nun 
she could not marry, if not, she was free." The matter 
was hotly debated, and Anselm called a council. 

In the words of Mr. Freeman, — 

"The Archbishop called together at Lambeth, the manor of 
his friend the Bishop of Rochester, an assembly of bishops, 
abbotts, nobles, and religious men, before whom he laid the 
matter, and the evidence bearing on it. There was the evidence 
of the maiden herself, there was the evidence of two Archdeacons, 
William of Canterbury and Humbald of Salisbury, whom Anselm 
had sent to the Monastery, and who, after enquiries among the 
sisters, reported that there was no ground to think that Eadgyth 
had ever been a veiled nun. The Archbishop then left the 
assembly, and the rest, who are spoken of as the Church of 
England gathered into one place, debated the question in his 



42 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



absence. Much stress was laid on the case of those women who, 
in the first days of the conquest, had sought shelter in the cloister 
from shame and violence, and who had not taken religion {i.e., 
religious vows) upon themselves. The late Archbishop (Lanfranc) 
had declared them free to marry, and the judgment of the 
assembly was that the same rule applied to the case of the 
daughter of Malcolm. Anselm came back, and the debate and 
the decision were reported to him. He declared that he assented 
to the judgment, strengthened as it was by the great authority of 
Lanfranc. Then Eadgyth herself was brought in, and heard with 
a pleased countenance all that had passed. She then offered to 
confirm all that she had said by any form of oath that might be 
thought good. She did not fear that anyone would disbelieve 
her, but she wished that no occasion should be left to blaspheme. 
Anselm told her that no oath was needed, if any man out of the 
evil treasure of his heart should bring forth evil things, he would 
not be able to withstand the amount and strength of the evidence 
by which her cause was proved. He gave her his blessing, and 
she went forth, as we may say, Lady-elect of the English." 

Eadgyth, better known as Matilda, was married on the 
Feast of S. Martin, the nth November, noo, and was 
crowned at Westminster amidst great popular acclamations. 
The little pupil of Romsey became Queen of the English 
for nearly eighteen years, dying 1st May, 1 1 18. Her 
training had fostered all those good qualities which it is 
natural to suppose she inherited from her mother, and 
gave her also an intellectual education of a high order. 
Mr. Freeman speaks of " her display of scriptural and 
classical learning " and of " her being mistress of an 
amount of learning which must have equalled or exceeded 
that of the King himself." Six of her letters, in Latin, 
with quotations from Scripture and from classical authors, 
to the Archbishop, are extant, and may still be read. They 
exhibit her great love for the saintly Anselm and her 
earnest desire to bring about agreement between him and 
the King. 



The Saxon Princesses. 



43 



The first letter, written before his exile, contains the 
Queen's earnest exhortation that he would relax his long 
fastings. She admits that many of the philosophers by 
their example invite to a sparing use of food : " Nemo est 
enim qui ignorat vos legisse Pythagorae, Socratis, Antis- 
thenis frugalitatem, caeterorumque philosophorum, quos 
ut enumerare longum est, ita nec praesenti opusculo 
necessarium." She then turns his thoughts to the grace 
of the New Law, and declares that Christ Jesus, who 
consecrated fasting, consecrated also eating, going to the 
marriage feast, where he turned the water into wine, and 
to Simon's feast, and to the dinner offered him by Zaccheus. 
She further enforces her exhortation by reminding him 
of St. Paul's exhortation to Timothy : " Audi Pater, audi 
Paulum, Timouthem propter dolorem stomachi vinum 
bibere suadentem, dicentemque : 'Jam noli aquam bibere, 
sed modico vino utere.' " 

Of another letter, Miss L. Eckenstein says : — " The 
Queen both read and admired Anselm's writings, and 
compares his style to that of Cicero, Quintilian, Jerome, 
Gregory, and others, with whom her reading at Romsey 
may have made her acquainted." Another letter shows 
the true affection of the Queen for the great and noble 
Archbishop, and though in these days the expressions 
would appear exaggerated they reveal a sincere devotion 
on the Queen's part. The letter from which the following 
extract is made was translated by Mrs. Everett Green in 
her Letters of Royal Ladies : — 

" To her piously remembered father and worthily reverenced 
lord, Anselm the Archbishop, Matilda, by the grace of God 
Queen of England, the least of the handmaidens of his holiness, 
wishes perpetual health in Christ. 

"I give unnumbered thanks to your unceasing goodness, 
which, not unmindful of me, has condescended, by your letters 



44 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



presented to me, to show forth your mind though absent. The 
clouds of sadness in which I was wrapped being expelled, the 
streamlet of your words has glided through me like a ray of new 
light. 

" I embrace the little parchment sent to me by you as I would 
my father himself. I cherish it in my bosom : I place it as near 
my heart as I can. I read over and over again the words flowing 
from the sweet fountain of your goodness. My heart broods over 
them, and I hide the pondered treasures in the very secret place 
of my heart." 

Many benefited by Matilda's liberality, and if there was 
a touch of vanity and extravagance, these do not destroy 
her real goodness of character. " Her brother David, not 
an undevout prince, went so near to a scoff as to ask his 
sister whether King Henry would care to kiss the lips 
which had kissed the ulcers of the lepers." An extravagant 
act possibly on her part, but extravagant goodness has a 
necessary place in an age of rough manners and coarse 
life. She did much for the country in building bridges — a 
benefit of great public importance in those days. Together 
with the King she showed great interest in the monasteries, 
an interest returned with gratitude on their part. St. 
Alban's was restored in 1115, and a portrait of the Queen 
is found in the celebrated Golden book of that Abbey. 
She founded the Leper Hospital of St. Giles in the East in 
1101. Abingdon Abbey provided her with a retreat during 
her confinement, where she received the care of a celebrated 
leech, Abbott Faricius. 

Nor was Romsey neglected. The King was here in 
1 105, and again in 11 10 or 11 14, "the year in which his 
daughter was given to the Emperor." There are seven 
charters of Henry I to the Abbey. The first runs as 
follows : — 

" I have granted to God and the Blessed Mary of Romsey and 
Matilda the Queen, my wife, one fair by the year, that is to say, on 



The Saxon Princesses. 



45 



the Festival of S. Athelfleda the Virgin, which fair shall last four days, 
and begin the 15th day after the Feast of S. Denis, and I grant to her 
sac and soc and toll and team, and infangenethef with all her other 
customs, and I grant them to have my firm peace in going and 
returning from the fair. And besides this I grant to her fully a 
market every Sunday, with the aforesaid customs. Witness, Robert 
Earl of Mellent, and Eustace the Earl, and Urso de Abetot at 
Wyncestra." 

By the second deed Stephen, son of Arard, is permitted 
to put 20s. worth of land with his daughter into the Abbey, 
and he gives a fourth part of the mill at Todyntona 
(Totton, near Redbridge) and one virgate of land of Rige 
(i.e., Ridge) and two parts of the tithe of Wycebia. Witness, 
Wald' the Chancellor and Eudo Dapifer and Geoffrey the 
Chamberlain at Lutegarshale. Another charter commands 
Roger Bishop of Salisbury, Walter Hosato and all the 
barons of Wilteschir to see to the peaceable possession by 
the Abbess of the lands and mills which Ernulp Desthuite 
gave with his daughter. This probably refers to Wiltshire 
property. Of another Wiltshire property, once held of 
Romsey Abbey by William Escuet, it is ordered henceforth 
to be held in demesne by the Convent, the said William 
having relinquished it on placing his daughters in the 
Abbey. The last of this series of charters, one giving the 
Convent the right to plough their lands, is interesting 
because the Queen herself witnessed it ; the other witness 
being Humphrey de Bohun. It was attested at Winchester. 
Some of the witnesses to these charters occur in Abingdon 
Charters about 1105 and n 10; it is therefore probable 
that these also were granted in the early years of King 
Henry's reign. 

Though the records are scanty, it may certainly be 
gathered that Romsey Monastery flourished at this period. 
It possessed wide lands and received additions to its 
wealth, it enjoyed the favour of kings and welcomed royal 



46 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



personages within its walls, it was a home of learning and 
of good deeds, a fitting place for the education of the 
young, after a high standard. Nor were the improvements 
of the buildings nor the management of its business affairs 
neglected. The eleventh, with the early years of the 
twelfth century, saw the golden age of the monasteries, 
and Romsey shared the privileges and fulfilled the duties 
belonging to the time. 

The Queen, Matilda the Good, died on the 1st of May, 
1118, and an extract from Henry of Huntingdon, eulogising 
her character, may fittingly bring this chapter to a close : — 
Tunc quoque Matildis luce caruit de cujus facetia et morum prae- 
rogativa dictum est : — 

' ' Prospera non laetara fecere, nec aspera tristera, 
Aspera risus ei, prospera terror erant. 
Non decor effecit fragilem, non sceptra superbam 
Sola patens humilis, sola pudica decens. 
Maii prima dies, nostrarum nocte dierum 
Raptam, perpetua fecit inesse die." 



REFERENCES. 

Kemble's Codex, Vol. Ill, p. 359. 

Liber Vitae of Hyde Abbey. Walter de Gray Birch. 

Royal Charter at Broadlands, and see Charter Roll, 11-13, Ric. II, 

No. 2, for Inspeximus of Early Charters. 
Victorian County History — Hants, Vol. II. Early Christian Art. J. 

Romilly Allen. 
B. M. Carter MS. 

Discoveries in Romsey Abbey. C. R. Peers, Soc. of Antiq., 1901. 
History of the Norman Conquest, and William Rufus. E. A. Freeman. 
Letters of Royal Ladies. Mrs. Everett Wood (Green). 
Chronicles of Abingdon Abbey, Vol. II. [Rolls Series.] 
Women under Monasticism. Lina Eckenstein. 



CHAPTER IV. 



A.D. IIl8 — 1 2 19. 

PRINCESS MARY OF BLOIS, 



" Lest the impetuous presumption of the 
fraudulent king {i.e. Henry II) should inflict 
violent injury upon you." — Princess Mary's 
Letter to Louis VII of France, A.D. 1168. 



Chapter IV. 



PRINCESS MARY OF BLOIS, 



HE great Abbey Church, which has survived from 



A Norman times down to the present day, attracts all 
lovers of ecclesiastical architecture. This attractive charac- 
ter of the Church is enhanced by the mystery which hangs 
about its origin. A visitor, who is moved to admiration 
by the massive grandeur and perfect proportion of the 
building, asks how it came to be erected, and who found 
the money for providing the sisters with so costly a 
sanctuary. No very clear answer can be given. There are 
no surviving fabric rolls, and even the register of the Abbey 
deeds, which might have afforded some information, is lost 
or destroyed. 

It is generally said nowadays that the work was begun 
at the east end circa 1120, and that this new work was 
built round the older church whilst the latter was still 
standing. Perhaps King Henry I initiated the building 
of this great Church. He and the good Queen Maud 
had been great benefactors of monasteries during her life- 
time. What would be more natural than that he should, 
on her death, promote the building of a new and magnifi- 
cent church for the convent in which his Queen had been 
educated ? The Queen had died in 1 1 18, and she may have 
expressed some wish about the matter, and Henry may 
have found a pleasure in promoting this desire after her 
death. 




E 



So 



Records of Romsey Abbey. 



The curiously carved capital on the north side of the 
south choir aisle depicts several figures, one that of a king 
holding what looks like a church, another with a chevron 
on which is carved several words. This inscription, how- 
ever, seems only to refer to the architect or mason, and is 
as follows : — " Robert me fecit." Another chevron is in 
scribed with the words : — " Robert tute consule x d.s." 
The carving on the corresponding capital in the north 
aisle is equally curious and enigmatical. Here are two 
kings engaged in a bloody warfare, and restrained from 
further slaughter by the interposition of angels. These 
capitals afford a delightful subject for speculation on the 
part of the curious-minded, but it is difficult to find 
any satisfactory solution. If they were carved as soon as 
this part of the Church was completed the King represented 
in the south choir aisle might be Henry I, but it must 
be borne in mind that the carving may be later than the 
capital. Mr. E. Loftus Brock, in the Builder for 5th 
October, 1895, says: — 

"There is a good deal of early carving on the caps of the 
eastern portions which deserves careful attention from the fact that 
it contrasts with much that has been executed at a little later 
period. The stonework was in fact gone over again by a later 
carver, and much that had been left in the form of plain cushion 
capitals was transformed into carving. Of this work are the 
capitals with the name ' Robert.' " 

The building of this great Church must have occupied 
some considerable space of time. The western wall of the 
south transept is a little later than the general work in 
the eastern part of the building, the delay being caused by 
the older conventual buildings which could not at first be 
displaced. It is thought also that a pause, and this time a 
longer one, was made at the west of the crossing beyond the 
great tower, and that the round pillars in the nave indicate 





CARVINGS ON NORMAN CAPITALS. 

South and North Choir Aisles. 
Broadlands Collection. 



To face p. 50.] 



Princess Mary of Blois. 



5i 



a fresh start in building operations. These pillars have been 
compared with work in Christ Church, Oxford, which was 
carried out during the years 1160 to 11 80, at which latter 
date the Cathedral was consecrated. 

It may be that the advent of King Stephen's daughter 
— the Princess Mary, circa 11 55 — brought the means, and 
gave a fresh impetus to building operations. In any case 
the erection of the pure Norman work covered a good 
many years, before the transitional work of the nave 
clerestory was entered upon. This transitional work from 
Norman to Early English was carried out during the 
Abbacy of Juliana (1171-1199), the date usually given for 
it being circa 11 80. This work is to be found chiefly in the 
clerestory of the four eastern bays of the nave, but " the 
westernmost of these bays also indicates in the triforium, 
by an increase of mouldings, the limit of the Norman work 
and the beginning of the Transitional." It has been 
remarked of the first bay of the clerestory next the tower, 
on the south side, that " it has a pointed arch enriched with 
the chevron," which is the only one so ornamented, " as if 
the architect, in abandoning the ancient forms, was anxious 
to preserve some of the characteristic features to which he 
had been accustomed." The further development of the 
great Church in the Early Pointed or Early English style 
will be referred to in the next chapter. 

The Abbess or Abbesses who presided over the convent 
during the earlier years, when the new buildings began to 
rise above ground, are unknown. If Christina {circa 1090) 
was not Abbess at the close of the eleventh century, there 
is a gap in the list of Abbesses for a period of about 100 
years. A certain Hadewisa is spoken of in 11 30 as then 
Abbess. The reference occurs in a grant of a corrody, or 
allowance in food or money, to the monastic house of 
S. Denys, Southampton. The original deed is preserved 



52 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



in the Public Record Office, and has a seal attached, of 
which an illustration is given. " The seal " is described as 
" of red wax, about 2 in. in length and in. in breadth, and 
represents a female standing in the habit of a nun. In 
her right hand she holds a long staff, and in her left a book 
which she clasps to her breast." This figure may represent 
the patron, S. ^Ethelfleda. The inscription is simply 
" Sigil. S. Marie Romes." In this grant Hadewisa speaks 
of the Canons of S. Denys as " fratribus nostris et benefi- 
ciorum nostrorum participibus," and grants one full portion 
of food and drink such as was provided for a sister. In 
return the brethren were to pray for the welfare of the 
living and the repose of the dead in Christ. The 
names of two witnesses are attached — Berengarius and 
Rodbertus. 

Another grant of this lady, hitherto overlooked, is found 
in the Edington Register, and relates to the Abbey's 
property in Wiltshire. The Abbess and Convent concede 
to Herlewin a hide of land with pasture formerly inclosed 
by Alricius next the monastery of Bradley. Part lay in 
Essetona (i.e. Steeple Ashton) and part in Ethenduna 
(i.e. Edington). He is also permitted to rent a further 
piece of land at ten shillings, and for pannage of hogs to pay 
a hog or sixteen pence. The list of witnesses is the most 
interesting part of the document, as amongst them have 
survived the names of certain Romsey clergy of this early 
date : " Four presbyters, Robert, John, Roger, Edmund, 
Gilbert the deacon, Peter, scriptor of S. Albans, Henry 
clericus, Richard and William Sermonicatores, Roger 
Palmer, Ralf Dispensator, Edwin de Essefalde, Edwin 
cocus (Cook), William-Armiger of Berengarius, Wlpardus- 
Armiger of Herlewyn, and clericuli (Clergy in Minor 
Orders) of Rumesy, Philip, Walter, Osbert, and the other 
Osbert, Nicholas." 



CONVENT SEAL, A.D. II30. 

[S. iEthelflaeda.] 



Princess Mary of Blois. 



53 



During the next twenty-five years (1130-1155) the 
dearth of information continues. A Matilda succeeded 
Hadewisa, but from what families these ladies came it is 
impossible to say, the early Abbesses being seldom, if ever, 
distinguished by the addition of a surname. The grants of 
the King are the only sources of information, and they tell 
next to nothing. King Stephen confirmed to the Abbey 
its Wiltshire property, and the charter makes mention of 
Wernesdon, i.e. Wherwellsdon, the name of a Hundred near 
Devizes. This Hundred is overlooked by the white horse 
cut in the turf of Westbury down. It included the manors 
of Edington, Steeple Ashton, and others which the convent 
possessed by the gift of King Edgar. The Abbess of 
Romsey was Lady of the whole Hundred, and exercised 
large powers over the population as well as over the pro- 
perty. The name comes, it is said, from Har-welles-dun, 
implying that the Lord of the Hundred held his court by 
a hoar or ancient well-on-a-down. 

Henry II gave no less than fourteen Charters to 
Romsey, but they are all undated, and the witnesses afford 
little help in ascertaining the exact occasion on which they 
were given ; most of them, however, would seem to belong 
to the early part of the reign. Besides confirmations of the 
Wiltshire property there occurs amongst these deeds a 
reference, and for the first time, to a Gloucestershire pro- 
perty called Hunlaneseta, now Hunlacy. It had belonged 
to the Abbey, so runs the Charter, in the time of Henry I. 
There is no mention of it in Domesday as part of the 
Abbey's lands, and it may have come into the convent's 
possession with the advent of a sister, as was the case with 
a property mentioned in Henry I's Charter, referred to in 
the last chapter. Hunlacy lies due east of Cirencester, and 
I can be identified by the church of Cotes, of which the 
Abbey held the advowson. 



54 



Records of Romsey Abbey. 



In another Charter King Henry II confirms to the 
Abbey " that hide of land de la Wycke which William de 
Falesia gave to it with his daughter." The wording of the 
document seems to imply that this land came to the convent 
in the time of King William. In Domesday William de 
Falesia appears as holding half a hide of land, of the King, 
in Stannings, Wiltshire. He also held manors in Dorset, 
Devon, and Somerset. His wife was a daughter of Serbo 
de Burci, who held an estate at Domerham under the 
Abbot of Glastonbury. 

In this series of charters mention is made by the 
King of "Mary my kinswoman"; she is further spoken 
of as Abbess, and the King gives special protection to 
the Abbey of Romsey over which she presides. This 
Mary was the youngest of King Stephen's daughters, 
and the darling both of her father and mother, and was 
dedicated by them to the monastic life from very early 
years. Her birth took place about 1136, and she was, 
when old enough, placed in the Convent of S. Leonard's 
at Stratford-at-Bow, the Manor of Lillechurch in Kent 
being given for her support. Several sisters were brought 
over from S. Sulpice at Bourges to be her attendants ; 
but quarrels arose with the English sisters over the harsh- 
ness of the discipline, and Stephen called together an 
assembly consisting of Archbishop Theobald, the Bishop 
of Chichester, the Abbot of Faversham, and others. It 
was decided to take away the Manor of Lillechurch from 
St Leonard's and form it into a separate priory, over which 
the young Princess should preside. " Her affectionate and 
amiable mother, Queen Maud, did not," writes Mrs. Green, 
" long live to lavish proofs of tenderness on this her only 
surviving daughter ; and her death which took place in 
1 1 5 1 deprived Mary of a support of which she afterwards 
stood in much need." Queen Maud was daughter of the 



Princess Mary of Blois. 



55 



Mary, who, with her sister, Matilda, Queen of Henry I, 
had been brought up in Romsey Convent by their aunt 
Christina at the close of the previous century. The grand- 
mother, Mary, had been a pupil at Romsey, and now, for 
some reason unknown, either her father, King Stephen, 
or Henry II brought the grandchild Mary to the same 
convent. The exact date cannot be proved, but if Mrs. 
Green is correct in saying that she was some time in the 
convent before becoming its Abbess, she must have re- 
moved there before 1 155, when Abbess Matilda died. 

The Princess was not left long to enjoy the peace of 
her convent life. In 1159-60 her brother William, Count 
of Boulogne, died, and, as heiress of the property, she was 
a prize worth seizing. At the instigation it would seem 
of King Henry II, Matthew of Alsace, youngest son of 
Theodoric, Count of Flanders, sought her as his bride, 
and in spite of the strenuous opposition of Thomas a 
Becket, carried her off. It was a scandalous proceeding, 
but with the King against her, and with no relatives now 
surviving to defend her honour or to support her resistance, 
it may well be doubted if she was a willing instrument. 
The whole matter was insistently pressed, and very likely 
suddenly disclosed to her, and she was too young and 
inexperienced, in the turmoil of the moment, to protect 
herself. But she never forgot Henry's unkindness, and 
some years later, in a letter to the King of France warn- 
ing him of the coming of Henry's emissaries, she speaks 
in no measured terms of her cousin the King of England. 
Here are the Princess' words written to Louis the Vllth 
in 1 168: — 

" Let it be known to your Highness that Henry, King of 
England, has sent his ambassadors to the Emperor. The return- 
ing ambassadors passed through my territories, and I spoke with 
them, and well I perceived from their words that the English 



56 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



King ceases not day nor night to devise mischief against you. 
Wherefore I thought it fitting to send to your Grace and to give 
you the necessary forewarning that you may take counsel with 
your wise men and act as is most fitting, lest the impetuous pre- 
sumption of the fraudulent King should inflict violent injury 
upon you." 

Mary was married in 1161 ; she was joyfully received 
by her own people as their young Countess, and became 
endeared to them not only by reason of her blood, but 
also by her kindly nature inherited from her mother. 

The feud between Becket and her husband continued, 
and various efforts were made to separate the couple, but 
without success. Indeed Becket complains that in going 
abroad his life was in danger, owing to Matthew's anger 
with him. 

At last, after ten years of married life, Matthew and 
Mary agreed to separate, the former having been much 
stirred by a speech of the Emperor Frederick I. This is 
Mrs. Green's account : — 

" During the feasting that took place on the marriage of 
Matthew's sister Margaret with Baldwin, Earl of Hainault, and in 
which he bore a part, the Emperor Frederic I., was present, and at 
table in the midst of the assembled guests he dilated upon the 
enormity of Earl Matthew's conduct towards the Lady Mary, 
declaring that no man of respectability ought to associate with 
him. 

"Earl Theodoric, his father, had on his dying bed severely 
reproved him for his fault, and this remonstrance, disregarded at 
the time, now rushed upon his recollection. He returned home, 
and, having with many penitential expressions asked forgiveness 
from his wife, gave his full consent for her to return to the 
cloister." 

Mary retired to the monastery of S. Austreberthe at 
Montreuil about 11 69- 11 70, and died in 1182 at the early 



Princess Mary of Blois. 



57 



age of forty-five years, leaving two daughters, Ida, the 
elder, who was first married to Gerard, Earl of Gueldres, 
and, becoming a widow after a few months, was re-married 
to Reginald, Count of Damartin. She as the elder daughter 
inherited her mother's property. Maud, the younger 
daughter, was married to Henry I, Duke of Brabant. Both 
these daughters were legitimatized, and had the recognition 
of the Papacy, showing that the scandal was forgiven. The 
story is a pitiable one, and the more so, because the victim 
seems to have been of a particularly sweet and noble 
disposition. 

The name of the Lady Mary's successor at Romsey 
is not recorded, unless it may be taken for granted that 
Juliana was elected immediately after the abduction of 
her youthful predecessor. Juliana was certainly presiding 
over the convent as early as 1174, and perhaps as early as 
1 171. This is proved by a deed executed between her 
and one Richard, son of Michael, son of Herlwin, relating 
to lands and a tenement which his father, Michael, held 
of the Abbey in Semmetonia, and to lands in Essetonia, 
Ethedonia (Ashton and Edingdon) and Bradelea, and for 
which, amongst other services, he gave one sextus of honey 
at the feast of the patron S. ^thelfleda. Amongst the 
witnesses to this deed there occurs the Archdeacon of 
Winchester, Ralph, who filled that office from 1 171 to 
1 174. There is nothing impossible in the suggestion 
that Juliana immediately succeeded the Lady Mary, 
though her rule would in that case have been a long 
one, extending over nearly forty years, 1160 to 1199, in 
which latter year she died. 

There is another deed of this Abbess, preserved in the 
Winchester Cathedral Chartulary, Part III, No. 502, in 
which Juliana and the Convent of the Church of S. Mary 
of Romeseye confirm land to one William Terstwade in 



58 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



Testwade and ly Wada as his ancestors held it, and 
here again one sextus of honey is mentioned as part of 
the service rendered to the Abbey. Another deed in the 
same collection contains a grant by J. (probably Juliana), 
Abbess of Romsey, to a Richard de Testwode, of the 
Mill at Totyngton {i.e., Totton). Other members of the 
family "de Testwode" are to be found in documents 
relating to Romsey for 1 50 years or more. 

It was during Juliana's abbacy that King Henry II 
caused nuns to be brought from Fontevrault. This event 
took place in 1 176-7, and the cost mentioned in the Pipe 
Roll is £2. 8s. 6d., a sum which must be multiplied by at 
least forty to obtain a comparison with the present day value 
of money. The Abbey of Fontevrault, which combined 
in one establishment a house of monks and a house of 
nuns, both under an abbess' rule, was situate some ten 
miles south-east of Saumur on the river Loire, and 
became the last resting place of Henry II and Richard I. 
About the same time the King also brought nuns from 
Fontevrault to the convent at Amesbury and expelled 
some of the nuns there. The fact that French sisters were 
brought to Romsey is just one of the many tantalizing 
fragments of the Abbey's history which quickens the 
imagination without satisfying it. Was there some ill 
will against the Crown smouldering in the convent in 
consequence of Henry's brutal treatment of the Princess 
Mary ? but this was a grievance sixteen years old. Was 
there a lack of novices seeking profession ? but this 
seems hardly likely at so early a date. Perhaps these two 
possible causes may be combined, and the conjecture may 
be hazarded that the convent had lost something of its re- 
putation and attractiveness through the scandal of Abbess 
Mary's abduction. 

Two other charters of Abbess Juliana may be worth 



[ Photo, c. i860. 

NAVE ARCADE AND NORTH AISLE. 
Junction of Norman and Pointed Work. [The window on right has disappeared.] 
face p. 58.] [See p. 



Princess Mary of Blois. 



59 



a reference. The first, dated 1 183, deals with a farm 
granted to Richard Ruffus, or le Rous, the King's 
chamberlain. The family, of which he was a member, was 
connected with Immere or Imber in Wilts for several 
centuries, and had frequent dealings with the convent. 
The witnesses to this deed include Robert Elemosinarius 
(Almoner), and Alanus and Ranulphus, "our chaplains." 
The other charter relates to half a hide of land in Edyndon 
granted to Robert de Fonte. It had been held by his 
grandfather Alwardus. A Robertus Medicus (Doctor) 
occurs amongst the witnesses. His name is a familiar one 
in deeds of this date, relating to Romsey, and in some of 
them he is described as of Ashton, i.e., Steeple Ashton, 
Wilts. 

No further information is to be had concerning Abbess 
Juliana who died in February, 1199, and was succeeded by 
Abbess Matilda Patric, the sister or half-sister of Walter 
Walerand. During this lady's abbacy King John built 
a house at Romsey, which after his death was granted to 
the convent for a farm within the Abbey, 9th November, 
1221. 

The King paid several visits to Romsey. On Monday, 
28th February, 1200, he came there from Portsmouth and 
on the following Wednesday proceeded to Winchester. On 
the 2 1st April, 1206, he sent Godfrey Ruffus to Romsey 
with thirteen palfreys and six grooms, with two sumpter 
horses and their attendant, and commanded the warden of 
the Abbey to see that proper care was taken of the horses. 
On Friday, the 22nd of January, 12 10, the King again 
visited Romsey, travelling from Cranborne. He remained 
there on Saturday, and perhaps longer, the next place 
mentioned in his itinerary being Marlborough, which he 
reached on the 28th of the same month. He spent the 
nth of February at Ashley, and returned to Romsey on 
Friday, the 12th. 



6o Records of Romsey Abbey. 



It is not without interest to notice that Christiana de 
Rumesey was nurse to his daughter, the Princess Johanna, 
and that the Mayor and others of Winchester had to make 
a provision of two pence a day for her, 9th August, 12 13. 
The Winchester folk seem to have fallen into arrears in the 
payment of this allowance, for in 12 18-19 Henry III orders 
them to pay £6. is. Sd. for two years, and refers to a 
debt of £66. 12s. 6d. The convent, possibly owing to 
these personal relations with the King, seems to have 
favoured his cause, for as late as 29th of August, 12 16, 
more than a year after he had been forced to sign Magna 
Carta, and within a few months of his death, the King 
orders that the Abbess and Convent shall have possession 
of the lands belonging to those of their tenants who are 
the King's enemies, and have kept back their rents due 
to the Abbey. 



REFERENCES. 

Hoare's County History of Wiltshire. 

Dugdale's Monasticon. 

Madox Formulari, No. 401. 

Inspeximus of Royal Charters, as in Ch. III. 

Wilts Archaeological Society's Magazine. 

English Princesses. Mrs. Everett Green (Miss Wood). 

Edington Chartulary. B. M. Landsdowne, 442. 

Winchester Cathedral Chartulary. 

Archaeological Institute, Winchester, Volume, 1845. 

Patent Rolls. 

King John's Itinerary. 



CHAPTER V. 



THE 13th CENTURY ABBESSES. 



" It is needful to enclose the garden {i.e., the 
convent) by the defence of shrewd and sharp 
discipline, as the Paradise of God was enclosed 
by angelic care and the flaming sword." 

Archbishop Peckham's Injunctions. 



Chapter V. 



THE 13th CENTURY ABBESSES. 



HE Records of Romsey during the reign of Henry III 



A relate rather to external than to internal affairs, and 
deal with the appointment of officers, with grants from the 
Crown and Manor privileges. The Episcopal Registers, 
from which some idea might be obtained as to the internal 
life of the Convent and the character of the Abbesses, 
are not available till the close of the century. 

A slight sketch is alone possible, and this is the more 
to be regretted because the 13th century witnessed the 
close of the golden age of the monastic life, and it would 
have been of great interest to know how Romsey fared, 
and whether the Convent maintained that high excellence, 
as an educational establishment, which was its proud 
possession in the time of Christina and her niece, the 
Princess Matilda. 

When the century opened Matilda Patric 1 was still 
Abbess, and during the fifty-six years of Henry's reign 
there were, including this lady, eight Abbesses who ruled 
over the house. They followed in quick succession, Matilda 
Patric dying in 1 218-19 was followed by an unnamed 
Matilda (1219-30), whose successor was Matilda de Barbfle 
(1230-37) ; then came Isabel de Nevill for about a year 




1 This lady is called Paric in the Patent Roll, and Patriz in the Annales 
Monastici. 



64 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



(1237-38), and she was succeeded by Cecilia (1238-47); 
the Prioress Constance was the next Abbess (1247-60), 
and after a vacancy of some six months, during which 
time William de Axemuth held the Abbey as the King's 
Escheator, Amicia de Sulhere, who had been Prioress, 
received the abbatial staff, 16th May — 6th June, 1261, and 
continued as ruler for some seven years, when Alicia 
Walerand was appointed, nth — 28th July, 1268. So many 
changes in the government of a large establishment like 
Romsey could not at any time have made for efficiency, 
and still less at a time when a change was passing over the 
whole monastic system. There are signs towards the close 
of the century, when the Episcopal Visitations begin, that 
the discipline of Romsey Abbey had grown lax, and 
warnings, though lovingly, were sternly given. 

Little is known about the six Abbesses between Matilda 
Patric and Alice Walerand, indeed it has not been a simple 
matter to recover the names and dates of some of these 
ladies. Matilda the unnamed and Matilda de Barbfle came 
to light in searching a printed calendar of the Patent Roll, 
or roll containing the Crown's mandates open and public 
to all. Isabel and Constance are to be found in the Patent 
and also in the Close Roll, or register of letters closed or 
sealed up and directed to individuals, but the rolls for these 
years have not yet been printed. 1 Abbess Constance has 
been known for many years from her seal, of which an 
illustration is given, but four of these ladies' names have 
never been printed in any Romsey handbook ; they are 
the Matilda unnamed, Matilda de Barbfle, Isabel de Nevill, 
and Cecilia. The story of the fortunate recovery of the 
name and date of this latter lady may perhaps be worth the 
telling, as it shows that perseverance in a search of this kind 
is always worth while, in spite of many disappointments. 

1 The Patent Rolls for 1232-47 have now been printed. 



SEAL OF VICAR NICHOLAS 
DE SANCTO BOTULPHO. 
A.D. 1354-49. 

See p. 168.] 




SEAL OF ABBESS CONSTANCE. 
A.D. 1247-61. 



To face p. 64. J 



The 13TH Century Abbesses. 65 



The name Cecilia came to light in studying a 14th 
century MS. (B. M., Lansd. 442), which is a beautifully 
written book or register of deeds, relating in part to the 
Abbey's Wiltshire property. This register was made by 
the Monks of Edington, who in the 14th century succeeded 
to some of the property and entered into possession of the 
church there. In this collection there is a deed mention- 
ing Cecilia, but without a date ; there are, however, the 
names of a number of witnesses appended which proved 
that she was Abbess in the earlier half of the 13th cen- 
tury, but her exact place was still unknown. Further 
light came from an old and interesting deed, relating to 
the Rector of Edington and the Rector of St. Laurence, 
or Parish Church of Romsey. There had been a long 
continued dispute about a tithe in Wiltshire, and John, 
the Rector of Edington, and Adam, the Rector of 
Romesey, together with the Abbess, petitioned the Bishop 
of Salisbury to step in and settle the matter. He did 
so, and the deed was sealed with the seals of the Bishop, 
Abbess, Convent, and of the two Rectors, but best of 
all the date was added, 1241. This document did not, 
however, give the exact date of Cecilia's appointment, 
and whilst her predecessor and successor both occur in 
the Close Roll as having the King's confirmation, there 
is no mention of Abbess Cecilia. A study of the Rolls 
suggests an explanation — one of them is missing, and this 
is for the year 1238, which may therefore be taken as the 
probable date of her appointment. 

A missing link still remained ; in the deed of the rectors 
the lady is named merely as Abbess C, and though the 
witnesses in the deed of the Edington register included 
the Rectors John and Adam, yet C. might have stood 
for another Abbess, but happily a third MS. turned up 
and clinched the whole matter ; it was dated 1244, and 
spoke of the Abbess by her full name Cecilia. 

F 



66 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



Most of these ladies had dealings with the Crown, and 
were recipients of royal favours. Henry the III was born 
at Winchester, and loved his birthplace, spending much 
of his time there, as the city found to its cost. Living 
in the neighbourhood, it is not surprising to find that, 
like his father, King John, he visited Romsey, or that 
he favoured it with gifts. Early in his reign the house 
which King John had built at Romsey, probably for a 
hunting box, was granted to the Abbess for a farm. On 
the occasion of Henry's visit there, on 15th March, 1231, 
a month or two after Matilda de Barbfle's appointment, 
he granted five oaks from Milchet Wood, ad planchias 
faciendas, for the repair of the dormitories. 

Isabel de Nevill was favoured with a gift of five New 
Forest bucks to celebrate her installation, 21st May, 1237, 
and the King acquitted a rent due to the Crown at Easter 
by reason of the late vacancy of the Abbey, which rent 
was used to pay the debt of the Abbey ; this favour 
was given on 13th July. Though thirty abbesses at 
least presided over this establishment between Edgar's 
new foundation in 967 and the suppression of the Mon- 
asteries in the 16th century, on no other occasion is there 
any surviving record of a King's gift for an abbess's feast, 
or indeed of a feast being held, though no doubt it was 
the usual custom on the appointment of a new head of 
the house. 

Under Cecilia the Abbey owed the Crown, or rather 
the Bishopric, which was in the King's hands at the time, 
,£10 for corn (1239), a sum equal to some ^240 in these 
days, and this rather considerable sum was remitted. Six 
New Forest oaks for timber came into the hands of the 
Sacrist 24th June, 125 1, and two years later sixteen oaks 
from the same place were given for the fabric of the church 
(21st June, 1253). After this the record of gifts ceases 



The 13TH Century Abbesses. 67 



until the closing years of the reign, when Henry grants 
six more oaks, this time from Clarendon Forest (20th 
Nov., 1 271), and closes his presents with a cask of wine, 
10th May, 1272. 

No great demands were made upon the Abbey for 
these royal favours, so far as the surviving records show, 
with the exception of an order to take in a lady, one 
Matilda Waler and her handmaid, and to provide them 
with necessaries. The most trying part of this command 
being found in its closing words : " during the life time 
of the said Matilda ; " for the abbey's sake it is to be 
hoped that she was not a young woman. The only 
other demand occurs when the King kept Christmastide 
at Winchester in 1268, Romsey, together with Southamp- 
ton, Andover, Newbury, and Alresford, are to provide 
bread. Judging by the number of places called upon, 
the company which, with retainers and servants, gathered 
at the Royal Court on this occasion must have been a 
large one. 

Another matter, and one of a rather more public 
character, came under the consideration of the Crown 
during this reign. Matilda Patric, sister or half-sister 
of Walter Walerand died sometime between 28th October, 
12 1 8, and 27th October, 12 19. With her death the gallows 
ceased to be used and fell to the ground, nor was it brought 
into use again for fifty years or more. It is impossible 
now to explain why this disuse obtained. Perhaps the 
Abbesses who followed Matilda were more religious and 
less secular-minded, and attended rather to the Convent 
life and the Abbey buildings than to the conservation of 
manorial privileges and the care of their estates. 

But the privilege of trying criminals was not generally 
despised. In his History of Hampshire, the late Mr. 
Shore says : — 



68 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



" Many places in Hampshire had the right of holding a Court 
Leet in addition to the Manor Court This privilege was highly 
valued by the lords of Manors. It relieved them from certain 
obligations in connection with the hundred Courts held by the 
sheriff of the County or his deputy. A Manor which had a 
Court Leet could make its own arrangements for the assize of 
bread and ale, appoint its own ale-taster, and the lord of such a 
Manor usually had also the right of freegallows. So many gibbets 
existed in various parts of Hampshire at one time, that male- 
factors could not travel many miles without coming across one 
or more of these reminders of the law, from which the whitened 
bones of some criminal were perhaps hanging." 

At Romsey, when the tithe map was made, in 1845, 
there was a Gallows mead on the north-west side of the 
town, situate a third of the way up the Burnt Mill stream 
or the middle stream above the mills in Mill Lane, and this 
may indicate the site of the ancient place of execution. 

A few other benefits of a public character were received 
from the Crown during the last six years of Henry's reign. 
On the 1 8th of July, 1266, a market on Wednesdays and a 
fair of three days, lasting from the Vigil to the morrow of 
the Nativity of the B. V. M. (September 8th) was granted 
at Ashton, i.e., Steeple Ashton in Wiltshire. Two years 
later (10th July, 1268) all the ancient charters of the Abbey 
were overhauled, inspected and confirmed, fresh copies 
being made, because as is explained : — " We find the 
charters worn away by age and not durable, and are not 
willing that the well-beloved in Christ, the Abbess and 
nuns of Romsey, there serving and for ever to serve God 
and the Blessed Mary and S. Ethelfleda should suffer loss 
or damage." This was the year of the great storm at 
Winchester, a storm which no doubt included Romsey 
in the havoc wrought in the neighbourhood. 

Whilst there is not much evidence as to the mainten- 
ance or increase of manorial rights in the early part of the 



THE EAST END. 
Broadlands Collection. 



[J. Buckler. 1806. 




Broadlands Collection. 



The 13TH Century Abbesses. 



69 



reign, the Church proves that there was much activity 
going on about the buildings. The transition from Norman 
to Early Pointed work is to be dated during the reigns 
of Henry II and Richard I. The Transitional work in 
Romsey Abbey, as described in the previous chapter, had 
been carried out whilst Juliana was Abbess (1 171-99). 
Then after a considerable interval, building operations were 
again taken in hand, and the great church was finally com- 
pleted by the erection of the very beautiful lancets at the 
west end. This window, together with the last bays of 
the nave, are of Early Pointed work, a style which pre- 
vailed throughout the reign of Henry III. There is a 
fine capital, in the north-west door, of this style, dated by 
Rickman as of about the year 1240, and a string course of 
1250, according to Parker. 

It is not without significance that, as has been already 
seen, a good deal of timber was given by the King to the 
Convent, and the gifts extend throughout the reign. The 
dormitories were repaired in 1230, sixteen oaks were given 
specifically for the fabric of the church in 1253, the Sacrist 
receiving six just two years earlier. The Early Pointed 
work may therefore be dated circa 1240-60, which include 
the Abbacies of Cecilia and Constance. Some of the 
timber may have been used for the final roofing of the 
nave, and in any case there is ample evidence of building 
activity, both in the church and about the conventual 
buildings at this time. 

After a few years interval the eastern end of the church 
was taken in hand ; a desire for more light, as well as for 
the more graceful ornamentation of this part of the church, 
may have been the moving cause of the undertaking. The 
heavy Norman triforium and clerestory were removed, and 
an exceedingly handsome window with bar tracery was 
inserted. At about the same time, or soon after, the Lady 



70 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



Chapel was rebuilt ; the gift by the Crown of six Clarendon 
Forest oaks, in 1271, should indicate the date of the work. 

There had been a Norman Lady Chapel up to this time, 
which now gave place to one of more graceful pattern and 
enlarged design. The windows, which now occupy the old 
entrance into the chapel, are formed of geometrical tracery 
of the earlier pattern of the Decorated style, and are 
spoken of by Mr. Loftus Brock in the Builder as thirteenth 
century work. These windows were inserted in their 
present position when the Lady Chapel was pulled down, 
shortly after the suppression of the monastery, and when 
the great church, with a twenty-four foot ambulatory, was 
sold by the Crown to the townsfolk. 

The late Vicar of Romsey, the Rev. E. L. Berthon, who 
with extraordinary skill lowered and restored these windows 
without taking them to pieces, examined the foundations 
of the Lady Chapel in 1866. He discovered a concrete floor 
and the foundations of a forty foot building extending into 
Mr. Curtis' garden, with bases and responds of the corner 
columns, corresponding with those on the face of the 
church. He also found the base of the central column for 
the support of the groining of the roof. There were 
capitals lying about which were placed in the nave of the 
church. 

But Mr. Berthon did more ; he pierced the concrete 
floor, and at a depth of twelve inches he came upon the 
floor of the earlier Norman chapel with tooth-pattern tiles 
of that period ; he gave the dimensions of this chapel as 
21 ft. by 25 ft., or only half the length of the later one. 
He says that this chapel was two steps below the rest of 
the church, and that the remains therein point to two altars 
corresponding to the double arched entrance, and thus 
agreeing with a double dedication in honour of the Blessed 
Virgin Mary and St. Ethelfleda. It may be that the visit 



The 13TH Century Abbesses. 71 



of King Edward I for two days, the 28th and 29th of 
January, 1275, marks the consecration of the new and 
beautiful Lady Chapel. 

It is a matter of great regret that more evidence has 
not survived to show the details of the work and the means 
by which the convent was enabled to complete and improve 
this magnificent building, which so deeply impresses every 
lover of architecture by its harmonious proportions. 

The male officers of the monastery must have played an 
important part in forwarding these building operations as 
well as in the dealings of the convent with the outer world, 
whether with architect, workmen, tenants, or crown officials. 
Amongst the convent officials the seneschal or steward 
would have been the most important. One of these, 
Walter de Acle, lived in the time of Abbess Matilda, 
probably Matilda Patric (1 199-12 19). Another, Savaric 
de Cinnoc, was steward under one of her successors, and 
Walter de Romesey under Matilda de Barbfle (1231). 
The last-named was a person of importance ; he had 
appeared in court as attorney for Abbess Matilda in 1 2 19, 
and witnessed a deed between the Abbess and one Michael 
de Cantertone, probably a few years later. He was an 
itinerant justice of Southampton about 12 17-1228, and 
Sheriff of Hampshire and Wiltshire, 1228-9, i n which latter 
year he became King's Coroner. At the time of Matilda 
de Barbfle's appointment Henry de Cerne, having the 
custody of the Abbey as the King's escheator during the 
vacancy, is commanded to give seizin to W 7 alter de 
Romesey as seneschal, and is especially forbidden to inter- 
fere any further with the convent property. This Walter 
was one of a long line of the Romesey family who held 
possessions in Somerset, Hants, and Wilts, and who for 
several centuries had dealings with the Abbey. 

The deeds which give Walter de Romesey's name give 



72 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



some information about the clergy. About the year 1212 
there were three presbyters (priests), Ranulph, Simon his 
brother, and Richard de Mannestun. They were either 
chaplains or prebendaries, possibly the latter, as throughout 
the early centuries there were three prebendal stalls 
attached to the Abbey. One of these carried with it the 
church of Edington in Wiltshire ; the other two were con- 
nected with the parish church of St. Laurence within the 
Abbey, the one having attached to it the church of 
Tymsbury, near Romsey, together with the chapel of 
Imber, in Wiltshire, the other having rights in the Abbey 
property at Sydmanton in North Hampshire, near New- 
bury, Berks. The former of these was entitled " The 
Prebend of St. Laurence the Greater." 

In the time of Cecilia (1238-47), Adam and John are 
described as Canons of Romsey, and further particulars 
are given in an interesting arbitration about tithe made 
in 1 241 by Robert Bingham, Bishop of Salisbury (27th 
May, 1229 — 3rd November, 1246). In this deed John de 
Romesey is spoken of as Rector of Edington, and Adam 
as Rector of St. Laurence, Romesey. The Bishop awards to 
John the Church of Edingdon, with the Chapel of Bradley, 
and the tenths in Beynton, Tenhide, and Coueleston ; and 
to Adam the Chapel of Ymmemere, with all that belongs 
to it, conditionally, however, that eight marcs a year are 
given to the Abbess by way of tithe, as had been the 
custom. Had the seals of this document remained intact 
they would have afforded much interest, since they in- 
cluded the seals of the Bishop, the Convent, the Abbess, 
and those of the two Rectors, but, with the exception of 
a small scrap of the Abbess's seal, they are all missing. 
One other cleric is mentioned in this document, Angerus, 
who was no doubt a chaplain under Abbess Cecilia. This 
lady's seneschal, or steward, is described in another docu- 
ment as Henry de Jueul. 



The 13TH Century Abbesses. 73 



John de Romesey's successor appears to have been John 
de Whwytechirch (Whitchurch), he again was succeeded 
by Geoffrey Britoni in 1262. This is to be learnt from a 
deed of Giles of Bridport, Bishop of Salisbury (nth March, 
1257 — 13th December, 1262) to this Geoffrey, who was a 
canon of the Cathedral. The Bishop recites a letter from 
Pope Alexander empowering him to confer benefices pre- 
bendal or otherwise, having cure of souls, upon Thomas de 
Rumesye and his three other clerks whom he shall know 
to be suitable. By this authority he confers on Geoffrey 
the Church of Edyndon, lately vacant by the death of 
Master John de Whwytechirch, formerly rector. 

Another benefice in this neighbourhood came under 
the attention of the Bishop of Salisbury in the time of 
Abbess Constance. The benefice was that of Steeple 
Ashton, which lay a few miles from Edington and within 
the Convent's manor. The Bishop's order with respect to 
it is of sufficient interest to quote at length : — 

"To all, etc., William of York, Bishop of Salisbury [14th 
July, 1247 — January 31st, 1255-6] greeting. Whereas our Lord 
the Pope granted Ashton Church, i.e., the rectory, to Constance 
Abbess and the Convent of Romsey to be applied to their own 
uses saving a competent vicar, we with her consent, etc., have 
ordained as follows : — 

"Besides maintaining the old vicarage portion, which was 
oblations and confessions, tithe of wool and lambs, cheese, milk, 
pigs (as well out of the court of the Abbess, as of the whole 
parish), tithe of mills, pannage of pigs, Cheresett in all tithes 
of demesne of the parson and tenants, apples and all small 
tithes in the Abbess' court and in all the parish, 'esculentum 
et poculentum ' supplied according to custom to the vicar at 
Christmas and Easter by the Convent. 

"There shall also accrue to Vicar Godwyn and all his suc- 
cessors all the tithe with villan hay in Sulde Ashton, Ashton 



74 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



Dunstaville {i.e., Gifford), and West Ashton. Also he shall have 24 
pigs in the woods of the Abbess and certain other rights of feeding 
for 6 cows, etc. Also a court and house with shrubbery belonging 
to the rectory ; the old vicar's house to go to the Abbess, except 
two acres of the old vicarage. The vicar having more than 20s. 
burden to bear, to receive 12s. a year from Bradley church, $s. 
from Trowbridge, and 4s. from the Abbess' demesne at Tylshyde. 
All the rest of the rectory to go to the Abbess. But the vicar 
shall have two chaplains continually with him to serve the church 
at his own expense, and the vicar shall bear one third part of the 
Episcopal and other charges, and the Abbess the rest. Sealed 
and dated 1st October, 1252." 

A reference to one of the chief duties of chaplains, 
that of saying mass for the living and departed, occurs in 
an agreement between Abbess Cecilia and Joan de Nevill 
in 1244. Joan had given to the Church of Romsey a 
caracute (some 100 acres) of land in la Lee, which was to 
come into the possession of the convent " in free and per- 
petual alms at her death," in return the Abbess grants that 
when this takes place " the Abbey shall find and maintain 
a suitable chaplain, who shall celebrate divine service for 
the soul of Joan and of her ancestors and heirs for ever." 

The land in La Lee had been part of Joan's dower, and 
one Robert de Shorewell, in the year 1241, confirms the 
land, stated then to be half a hide and thirty-seven acres, 
to Joan as of his gift. She pays twenty marks of silver on 
the occasion, or £13. 6s. Sd. } a mark being 13s. ^d. The 
total in present day value might be £320. The dowry 
spoken of may have reference to a second marriage, Joan 
having also been married to a William de St. Martin. 

The interest which this lady displayed in the convent 
opens up a whole field of enquiry which may some day 
throw a good deal of light on connections between the 
convent and several noble families of the period. Joan's 



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The 13TH Century Abbesses. 75 



mother was one of three heiresses, daughters of Walter 
Walerand. The latter owned estates at Dene and East 
Grinstead, and held the Serjeantry of the Forests in 
Hampshire under the Crown. He had married Isabel, 
a member of the great house of the Earls of Salisbury. 
Her exact place in the pedigree is not easy to determine, 
and is here given tentatively. If she was the daughter 
of Patric, Earl of Salisbury, she would have been the 
aunt of the celebrated Countess Ela, who was married 
to William Longspee, natural son of Henry II, and became 
the foundress of Laycock Abbey. Isabel's husband, Walter 
Walerand, is said to have had a sister or half-sister, Abbess 
of Romsey ; this is the lady who is described as Matilda 
Patric and Matilda Walerand. The name Patric forcibly 
suggests that Matilda too was of the Salisbury family and 
sister to Isabel, and should in that case be strictly described 
as sister-in-law to Walter Walerand. 

The three daughters and heiresses of Walter and Isabel 
were Cecily, married to John de Monmouth, founder of 
Grace Dieu Abbey, Albreda or Aubrey, married to John 
de Ingeham, and Isabel, married to William de Nevill, the 
mother of Joan, mentioned above. A glance at the 
pedigree will make the relationship of these people clear, 
and the suggestions which are not proved will be seen by 
the dotted lines and italics. 

When Cecily's grandson died in 1257 he held a third 
part of a knight's fee in Bardolfeston near Puddleton, 
Dorset. His holding was no doubt his grandmother's 
share, her sisters holding the other two shares. At the 
grandson's death the share was divided between Cecily's 
sister Aubrey and her niece, Joan de Nevill, so that when 
the latter died in 1263 she held half a knight's fee instead 
of a third. And now a curious thing happens ; in 1285 
three parties and not two hold Bardolfeston, namely, 



7 6 



Records of Romsey Abbey. 



William de St. Martin, Joan's heir, John de Ingeham, 
Aubrey's heir, and the Abbess of Romsey ; nor did the 
Convent cease its holding till the suppression of the 
monasteries. The Abbey's right must have been acquired 
at some time previous to 1285, and may have been much 
earlier. Perhaps Joan de Nevill was the benefactor, and 
entered into an agreement that the property should come 
to the Abbey after her death as with the property at La 
Lee. It must not be forgotten also that an Isabel de 
Nevill was Abbess of Romsey in 1237 to 1238, who one 
must suppose from Joan's great interest in the Abbey was 
her mother, during widowhood. 

In the south transept lies a very beautiful effigy 1 of 
a woman, one it is said of the most beautiful in this part 
of England. The head-dress is exactly like that to be 
found on the seal of Ela, Countess of Salisbury, who died 
1 261. The style of the monument also is to be dated 
about the middle of the thirteenth century. Now according 
to a journal of the Rev. J. Skinner dated 18 17, and 
preserved in the B. M. Add. MSS., "the figure was found 
about a century previous to 18 17 whilst digging a grave 
near the font," that is at the west end of the nave, where 
the font then stood. The position indicates the original 
place of the effigy, amidst the later additions to the church 
in the Early Pointed style of circa 1240 to 1260, and no 
doubt commemorates a benefactor of the period. What 
more likely than that this effigy represents Joan de Nevill 
herself, who died in 1263, or some member of this family 
which manifested so evident an interest in the convent? 
Further evidence may at any time turn up to prove or 
disprove the suggestion, but it seemed worth while giving 
for lack of any better account of the origin of this beautiful 
monument. 

1 See frontispiece. 



The 13TH Century Abbesses. 77 



There are a great many names of other people scattered 
up and down in deeds of this period, about whom some 
interesting particulars might be given, if it were possible to 
spend the time required in collecting and sifting the facts. 
For instance, Walter and his son Ralph de Edyndon, are 
worthy of notice because they were no doubt ancestors of 
William de Edyndon, the great Bishop of Winchester, in 
the fourteenth century. Again, in the absence of any list 
of sisters at this time, the names of two nuns, Eustachia de 
Fauconburg and Hillaria de Percy, may be mentioned. 
They report the death of the unnamed Maud to the King 
on 14th December, 1230. The former was, it is likely, the 
daughter of Eustace de Fauconburg, who sat as a King's 
Justice at Westminster, 1st June, 1203 ; the latter may be 
supposed to be a member of the great family of Percy 
afterwards Earls of Northumberland, who originally held 
lands both in Hampshire and Sussex. 

Although some of the sisters at Romsey, as at other 
places, came from county families, and some from noble 
and even royal stock, their birth would have given them 
no necessary superiority in the convent. Nevertheless, 
although the world was excluded from the religious house, 
and all were sisters, a certain amount of state must have 
surrounded the Abbess as the head of a great community 
and the ruler of large estates, with far-reaching powers 
over goods and men. Abbess Maud with her seneschal 
Sir Walter de Romesey, Knight, himself a Royal Justice and 
King's Sheriff, expresses the dignity and importance of the 
house and its head, as it appeared to the outside world, 
whatever the piety, simplicity, and humility of the religious 
ladies within its walls. 

The history of Alice Walerand, the lady who held the 
Abbacy at the death of Henry III and lived on through 
the greater part of Edward I's reign, will illustrate still 



78 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



further the relation of the Abbess and convent to the outer 
world, and the first surviving record of an episcopal 
visitation of Romsey, which was made in her time, will 
give some insight into the internal condition and discipline 
of the convent. 

Abbess Alice Walerand succeeded Abbess Amicia de 
Sulhere. The latter died before nth July, 1268, when the 
nuns Alice Letice and Johanna Roudon reported her death 
to the King and begged licence to elect a new Abbess. 
The new election obtained the assent of the Crown on the 
28th of July, a confirmation of the Abbey's Charters having 
been already made on the 10th of July. This lady enter- 
tained King Edward I in 1275, when two days, the 28th and 
29th of January, were spent at Romsey by the royal party. 
After this date royal visits were probably less common than 
they had been, for with the death of Henry III the royal 
family ceased to reside at Winchester, and the city and 
neighbourhood became of much less importance. 

Within the next five years Abbess Alice obtained a 
confirmation of the right of assize of bread and ale, by which 
she as lady of the manor, through her officer, tested the 
measures of these important articles of diet, and inflicted 
a fine, or in other words took a toll from the bakers and 
brewers for fulfilling this duty. Her right had been called 
in question, but her attorney proved to the Court that the 
charter of a free market, conceded by the late king, covered 
her right, and the Abbess was left in peace. This con- 
firmation was followed by another relating to the property 
of Northwood (4th January, 1280), when a charter of 
Henry II was examined, which proved that this wood had 
been given to the Abbey by King Edward the Confessor. 

The variety of business coming under the cognizance 
of an Abbess may be illustrated from several other docu- 
ments : — On the 1st May, 1278, John de Montague and 




COFFIN LIDS, 13TH CENTURY. 
Broadlands Collection. 



To face p. 78.] 



The 13TH Century Abbesses. 79 



Mabel his wife, and Christine de la Slade, who had a share 
in two premises in Romsey, yield their right to the Abbess, 
who in return grants them for life a shop in Romsey, which 
Walter le Fatte sometime held, they paying 6d. as a yearly 
rent. On the 8th July, 1281, Robert de la Wylderne and 
his wife Maud quitclaim a messuage and two acres of land 
to the Abbess and her church for a sparrow-hawk of a year 
old. Such payments, like a pepper-corn, a red rose at 
midsummer, or a clove gilly-flower, are very common in 
these documents. 

Another document introduces the celebrated Countess 
Isabella, wife of William de Fortibus, Earl of Albermarle, 
and sister of Baldwin de Redvers, Earl of Devon. In 
1288, 8th July, the Abbess yielded all right she might 
have in the advowson of the Church of Freshwater in the 
Isle of Wight to Isabella de Fortibus, Countess of Albe 
Marlie, who had warranted the Manor to Margaret, wife of 
Robert Aguylun. The right was of some value, for the 
Abbess received 200 marcs of silver for her compliance. 
This sum might equal some £3200 to-day. No evidence, 
so far, has come to light as to how Romsey obtained rights 
in the advowson of Freshwater Church. 

Two other deeds make a reference to the Romsey 
family. John de Romesey, Rector of Edington and one 
of the Canons and Prebendaries of the Abbey, gave a 
ploughland to the Convent, situate in Testwode and 
la Waude, 3rd April, 1294. He held it of Richard de 
Testwode at a rent of $s., the latter holding it of the 
Abbey. It was worth two marcs a year. The other 
deed, dated but two months before the Abbess's death, 
carries the reader into Berkshire, to Enborn or Estened- 
burne near Newbury, a place not far from the Romsey 
property at Sydmanton. The connection between the two 
properties appears in an entry of a fine to the King in 



So Records of Romsey Abbey. 



1256, by which it appears that the Abbess confirmed a 
grant for life to John de Romesey, son of Walter, of the 
Manor of Sidemanton, with rent in Eneborn, Robert 
Walerand being surety for the rent. On January 28th, 
1298, Abbess Alice and the Convent entered into a 
covenant to concede this Manor to Master Thomas de 
Alberburia, given to him by Ralph, son of Walter Pygon, 
who formerly held it. The Convent was to receive a rent 
of 5 5 j. and a fine on the spot of £20. Amongst the 
witnesses occur the names of two burgesses of Newbury. 

Forest rights were a matter of great importance and 
were therefore liable to become the subject of dispute. 
Early in Alice Walerand's time, 1272, the question whether 
the woods of Ashton and Edington were without the 
bounds of Selwood Forest arose ; if they were within 
they came under the hands of the Royal Foresters. An 
enquiry was held, and it was found that they were without 
the bounds of the forest up to the time of Alan Nevill, the 
Royal Justiciary of the Forest, who had made them part 
of it. After his time certain knights and others came 
forward and subscribed ^100 of silver to have a perambu- 
lation, by which the Abbess's woods were excluded from 
the forest, and continued so down to the time of Robert 
Passelewe, who had again made them forest. By two later 
enquiries these woods were declared to be outside the 
boundaries of Selwood, and no doubt the Romsey Steward 
congratulated himself on the successful maintenance of 
the Abbey's rights. 

Twenty years later another forest right had to be 
defended, and that nearer home. An enquiry had been 
held as to the " lawing " of the Abbess's dogs at Romsey 
and in the neighbourhood. This " lawing " was the cutting 
off the claws of a dog's forefeet, and was done to conform 



The 13TH Century Abbesses. 81 



to the forest laws for the protection of the King's game. 
The King's order may be quoted at length : — 

"Order to permit the Abbess of Romsey and her tenants, 
without and within the bridge of Bradebrugg, to be acquitted of 
the lawing of their dogs without the bridge aforesaid and in the 
hamlets pertaining to the Manor of Romsey, as the King learns 
by inquisition taken by the Justice that King Edgar granted the 
Manor of Romsey both without and within the said bridge, with 
the hamlets pertaining to it, to the Church of Romsey in ' frank 
almoin ' or free gift, as fully as he held it in demesne (i.e., as lord 
of the manor), and that the Abbess and her tenants .... were 
always from that time quit of the lawing of their dogs until the 
time of William Briwere, who unjustly exacted such lawing from 
them, when he had the custody of the forest of La Bere near 
Winchester. And that they had peace from that time until the 
time when John Maunsell had the custody of the forest, whose 
bailiff Alan again levied this lawing by force, and so afterwards 
the foresters continued the custom to the damage of the Abbess 
and against her liberty." 

In connection with the Romsey woods it is worth 
noting that a commission was issued in May, and again in 
June, 1297, to try the persons who assaulted Almaricus de 
Somersete in the Romsey woods. Hampshire at this time 
was infested with robbers, and travelling was dangerous. 
Mr. Shore says : — 

"By the Statute of Winchester, in 1285, the people of each 
hundred were obliged to make hue and cry after felons, and if 
any person, seeing a felon, did not raise the hue and cry, and if 
others did not join in it, they were liable. It was not sufficient 
to allow the criminal to depart to another hundred. The hue 
and cry had to be raised, a chase made and continued from 
hundred to hundred until the culprit was caught. Many an 
exciting chase, with many a cry of ' Stop, thief,' or perhaps of 
1 Murder,' must have taken place across the county in those days." 

From these rather dull legal documents it will be 

G 



82 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



pleasant to turn to the injunctions of Archbishop Peckham, 
made after a visitation by that prelate. It is thought that 
they were issued about 1283. Possibly the visitation was 
held just before Bishop John de Pontoise was consecrated 
Bishop of Winchester in 1282, otherwise it is hard to find 
a reason for a visitation by the Metropolitan. 

Extract from Archbishop Peckham 's Register. 

" Brother John, by Divine permission the humble servant 
of the Church of Canterbury, primate of all England, to 
his beloved daughters in Christ the Abbess and Convent 
of Romeseyhe, salutation, grace and benediction. 

" In a lily garden the Bridegroom is filled with delight, 
and finds pleasure in gathering lilies above all other flowers. 
It is therefore needful to enclose this garden by the defence 
of shrewd and sharp discipline, as the Paradise of God was 
enclosed by angelic care and the flaming sword, lest an 
entrance be opened to the serpent into the same, or to 
any sower of mischief, by which the pleasure of the 
Bridegroom should be turned to displeasure or less liking. 
This lily we believe to be the whole celestial and angelic 
ornament of virginal purity, which, by reason of certain 
matters found in our Metropolitan visitation lately held, in 
canonical form, we desire to protect in perpetuity by the 
ready defence of injunctions. 

" First, therefore, we ordain that the Abbess for the 
time being choose a discreet council and change her 
companions every year so that by many testimonies the 
truth of her discretion may become known. Also that 
she ever bear in mind to behave as a mother of the society, 
and to cause herself to be regarded as such by all and each 
who require consolation, no less than is an earthly mother 
by her natural daughters. Let her therefore always seek 
to attract to herself the true affection of all without the 



The 13TH Century Abbesses. 



83 



accepting of persons, and so to show herself with saving 
probity to all alike that she be in no way noted for 
partiality. Let her, moreover, earnestly consider herself 
not as the mistress of the community's goods, but only as 
one who discharges the office of a stewardess. 

" No abbess is to live finely and especially whilst the 
convent suffer want, and if the convent lack, the abbess is 
to show her sympathy, as a mother to her daughters, by 
doing away with her separate table and eating with the 
sisters, and any guests are to be refreshed at such times 
in the common hall. 

" Without the advice of the Chapter, she is not to 
appoint the steward, bailiffs or household servants. 

" If the abbess cannot be present at compline, the nun 
who is over the choir, with two of the more honourable of 
the nuns, shall inform her that compline has been said, 
and immediately all drinking in her chamber shall cease, 
and all lay people, whether of the household or guests, and 
also the religious shall leave, and at once the abbess shall 
say compline that she may be with the convent in the 
night watches, provided that she is not prevented by bodily 
infirmity ; and in her chamber she shall have no lay people 
beyond two handmaidens. 

" The nuns are not to eat, when in good health, except 
in the refectory or abbess' chamber. 

" No man is to enter the nuns' chambers under pain of 
the greater excommunication, but in case of sickness the 
confessor, doctor, or relative may do so, in honourable 
company, and so avoid even suspicion of evil. 

" Four officers (Scrutatrices) are to keep the cloisters 
clear of any persons who come to gaze or chatter. A nun 
breaking silence with any man in the cloister is to be 
deprived of a pittance at the next meal. Such conversation 



84 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



is permitted only in the parlour or in the side of the church 
next the cloister, and to avoid unseemly conversation she 
is to have two companions. 

" Confessions are to be heard before the high altar or at 
the side of the church next the cloister. 

" No nun is to go out except in staid company, nor is 
she to stay with secular folk beyond three days. 

" The superstition accustomed to be observed at the 
Nativity and Ascension of our Lord, we condemn for ever. 

" Women are not to be admitted as paying guests, 
without licence." 

A special injunction follows : " That a habit having 
arisen on the part of those going out, of eating and drinking 
on their return in the houses of layfolk and clerks in the 
town of Romesey, this is forbidden to the Abbess and 
sisters on pain of suspension from the monastery for a 
year." 

These injunctions, together with the appointment by 
the Archbishop of three coadjutors for the Abbess, Margery 
de Verdun, Phillipa de Stokes, and Johanna de Rovedoune, 
give the impression that the discipline was not as strictly 
maintained as it should have been, and that the convent 
had won for itself somewhat of a name for social pleasures, 
but there is nothing worse. 

A trouble arose in 1286, by reason of the extravagant 
and dissolute life of one of the Prebendaries, William 
Schyrlock, who annoyed the sisters, and he is forbidden the 
church and convent. 

Before closing this chapter some personal account must 
be given of Abbess Alice Walerand or Walraund. She 
came of a noble family, who owned the castle and manor 
of Kilpec in Herefordshire, her mother being Isabella de 
Kilpec and her father William Walerand. A seal belonging 



< W 
S Q 



O 

CO 

W 

o 

5 
w 




The 13TH Century Abbesses. 



35 



to her mother was found some years ago (1842) at Ewshot 
in the parish of Crondall, Hants. Engraved on it is the 
representation of a lady with a hawk on her wrist and a 
lure in her right hand, with the legend " S(igillum) Isabelle 
Wale'rant." 

The male line of the family came to an end early in 
the fourteenth century. Alice's elder brother Robert, a 
sheriff of Gloucestershire, dying without issue in 1272-3, 
the property would naturally have descended to his brother 
William's sons, Robert and John, but they had no issue, 
and the latter was unhappily deficient in intellect. Robert 
had, moreover, before his death enfeoffed another nephew 
with the manor of Kilpec ; this nephew was named Alan 
de Plukenet or Plogenet and was the second son of his 
sister Alice, — not of course a son of the abbess, but 
of another Alice, there being two Alices in the family. 
Her elder son was Richard de la Bere and her husband was 
Andrew de la Bere. It is worth while entering into these 
particulars, because a sixteenth century antiquarian, Gerard, 
has recorded a scandalous story about the abbess, which 
appears, on examination of contemporary records, to be 
groundless. 

In his Survey of Somerset, under Haselbury, Gerard 
says : — " I think it worth my labour to transcribe unto you 
in its own words, forme and language, what I found in an 
old parchment which came accidentally to my hands of 
the owners of this Haselberye. In this now following you 
may observe the power of a virgin vow." After quoting 
the pedigree, he continues: — "Alicia secunda fuit Abbatissa 
de Romsey et obiit professa et sine herede de se que tamen 
habuit exitum, viz., Ricardum de la bere." In his own 
words Gerard adds : — " The family of De la Bere, however 
thay came out of a nun's lapp and parted with a great part 
of their estate unto heires generall, yet they flourished long 



86 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



in great good note in Herefordshire and were feodaries to 
the Bohuns heretofore Earls of Hereford." 

Here is a pretty scandal, and one the more unlikely at 
this early date, about which there is not a breath in the 
Archbishop's visitation. An examination of the inquiries, 
made by the King's officers as to heirs at the death of an 
owner of property, known as " Inquisitio post mortem," 
disposes of the scandal and proves it groundless. There 
are a number of these inquisitions relating to different 
members of the family. One was taken in 1309-10, when 
a dispute arose as to whether Alan de Plukenet, the 
grandson of Alice, nee Walerand, was heir to the property 
of the family. The children of one Cecily, who it was 
said was a sister of Alice, claimed against Alan. These 
persons denied the existence of any Alice, except the 
Abbess of Romsey. The Court however held differently 
and declared that there were two Alices, one the Abbess 
and the other the mother of Alan, and that he was born in 
lawful wedlock. 

A very special inquiry was made in 1353, which went 
very carefully into the whole matter. A Thomas de la 
Bere, great grandson of Richard, the Abbess's nephew, 
claimed a property which had formerly belonged to her 
other nephew, Alan de Plukenet, Richard's younger brother. 
The Crown on the other side claimed the property, it being 
said that Alan was a foreigner and a bastard. Thomas 
denies this stoutly, and the Justices of Assize appear to 
have agreed with him, for they give their verdict on his 
side, and say that Alan was born in Dorset, at Thornton, 
of Andrew de la Bere and Alice his wife, sister of William 
Walerand and Robert his brother, of the English nation in 
lawful wedlock, and is not a foreigner or a bastard. They 
further trace back the pedigree of Thomas de la Bere to 
his great grandfather, and say that the latter was brother 



The 13TH Century Abbesses. 



87 



of Alan Plukenet, or Plogenet, as it is sometimes spelt. 
This verdict of contemporary evidence, given moreover to 
the disadvantage of the Crown, is better than that of an 
" old parchment," of uncertain date, quoted by a post- 
Reformation antiquary. The confusion probably arose 
from the Abbess and her married sister bearing the same 
name. 

Alan was a person of much importance at Court, as 
may be gathered from the following extract from Dugdale's 
Baronage. "In 1296-7 the King, Edward I, being in 
Flanders, and constituting Edward, his son, Governor in 
his absence, this Alan, being a person highly esteemed for 
his wisdom and military knowledge, was appointed one of 
his assistants for advice therein." 

If little gratitude is due to Gerard for handing on the 
scandal, he has done good service by recording the burial- 
place of the Abbess. " She is," he adds, " buried in the 
south part of the choir before the altar of S. Anne, ' matris 
Marie.'" It may therefore be supposed that the south 
choir aisle apse held S. Anne's altar. 



REFERENCES. 

Patent and Close Rolls. 
B. M. Lansdowne, No. 442. 

Ancient Deeds, B. 10908. [Public Record Office.] 

Inquisitiones Post Mortem. 

Feet of Fines. — Hants. 

B.M., Harl., 807. 

De Banco Roll, 347, m. 238. 

Gerard's Survey of Somerset. [Somerset Record Society.] 

Wilts Archaeological Association. 

Hoare's History of Wiltshire. 

Shore's History of Hampshire. 

Injunctions of Abp. Peckham. [Rolls Series.] 

Spence's Romsey Abbey. 

Nichol's Topographer and Genealogist. 

Dugdale's Baronage. 



CHAPTER VI. 

A.D. 1298— 1333. 

EARLY EPISCOPAL VISITATIONS. 



"All these things shall be read and recited 
in chapter before the whole convent, at least 
once a month, until they be all executed." 

Injunctions of Bp. John de Pontoise. 



Chapter VI. 



EARLY EPISCOPAL VISITATIONS. 

'THE office of an abbess carried with it both honour and 
A power, her pastoral staff, her separate lodging, the 
minute order and ceremonies observed at her election and 
installation, the honour shewed her whenever she appeared 
amongst her sisters, all combined to proclaim the dignity 
and power of her office. These externals of office were 
not meaningless, nor were they a thing apart, they pro- 
claimed and enforced one of the essential features of the 
monastic life, that of order, rule and obedience. The idea 
of monasticism, of a well-ordered household living under 
rule for the honour of God, could not be maintained 
without the Head of the House. The welfare of a convent 
therefore depended on the Abbess, and to a considerable 
extent upon the character and ability of the lady who was 
at any time appointed. It must then have been a mis- 
fortune to Romsey that changes should have been so 
frequent or that the ruler should have fallen into ill-health, 
as happened in the early part of the fourteenth century. 

Four abbesses succeeded between 1298 and 1333 : 
Phillipa de Stokes (1298 — 1307), Clemencia de Guldeford 
(1307 — 1 314), Alicia de Wyntereshulle ( 1 3 1 5), Sybil 
Carbonel (13 15 — 1333)- The first two fell into bad 
health or became infirm after about six years of rule, and 



92 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



attorneys in each case were appointed to carry on the 
business of the house. A grave misfortune happened to 
the Convent when Alicia de Wyntereshulle was appointed ; 
she survived but a few months (5th February — May), when 
she was poisoned by some miscreants. How and for what 
reason the crime was committed does not appear. The 
Crown appointed a commission to inquire into it on 
28th May, consisting of Henry le Scrop, John Dabernoun, 
and John Bluet, and on nth July, John Randolph took the 
place of John Dabernoun. In the latter writ the wording 
runs, " touching the persons who plotting the death of 
Alicia de Wyntereshulle, late Abbess of Romsey, caused 
her to be drugged." 

The Bishop (Henry Woodlock) wrote an indignant 
letter : — " To our beloved the Archdeacon of Winchester. 
We have heard with horror a story propagated by some 
unknown sons of iniquity, as scandalous as it is malicious 
and false, defaming our convent of Romsey in general, and 
especially the good memory of Alicia de Wyntereshulle, 
late Abbess thereof, accusing them of plotting her death by 
drugging, whereby these vile detractors have incurred 
the punishment of the greater excommunication. We 
therefore, in order to put a stop to such malicious and 
defamatory attempts in future, order that they be excom- 
municated accordingly in the said monastery as well as in 
other churches in your Archdeaconry, and in the vulgar 
tongue, to the intent that the matter may be fully under- 
stood by all, at the time of the solemn Mass, by ringing of 
bells, lighting of candles, and again extinguishing them, 
each Lord's day and festival. You shall denounce them 
and cause others to do likewise." There is no date to this 
letter, and the only explanation that can be given is that 
the Abbess died through the machinations of some 
miscreants, but that she and her sisters and the officials 



Early Episcopal Visitations. 93 



and servants of the convent were not only guiltless of 
ill-doing, but also of any scandalous living. 

The rule of the next Abbess, Sybil Carbonel, was 
longer than that of any of her predecessors, and lasted 
eighteen years ; it appears to have been quite uneventful ; 
perhaps she is to be congratulated on having no history. 
In no one case can the families of these ladies be exactly 
identified ; but the Wyntereshulles at this time held 
property at Bramley near Guildford, in the county of 
Surrey, and one of them was Sheriff of Southampton in 
1259, and another, probably his son, in 1270-72. 

Whilst little is known about these Abbesses, a fresh 
source of information about the internal condition of the 
nunnery becomes available. Before the last quarter of the 
thirteenth century, there are no episcopal registers of 
the diocese from which information may be drawn. It is 
said that the books before Bishop John de Pontoise's 
Episcopate have been lost ; in any case they are not to be 
found in the Bishop's registry, but from 1282 and onwards 
the registers continue without a break, except for a lost 
book of Bishop Beaufort's, covering the years 1416-1447. 
From these registers a good deal of information can be 
gleaned ; they give the appointments of clergy, whether 
canons or vicars ; they describe with elaborate detail the 
election of abbesses, and in some cases they yield the 
names of the sisters who formed the community, adding 
the titles of those who were officers. At one time a 
license for the removal of a body to a more honourable 
place of burial is given ; at another a dispute as to the use 
of the church by the townspeople is settled ; but the chief 
interest of these registers is to be found in the visitations 
of the religious house by the bishops. 

The Diocesan had the right of visitation in Romsey 
Abbey. After service he entered the Chapter House, 

I 



94 



Records of Romsey Abbey. 



questioned the sisters as to any irregularities, and formu- 
lated the results in a set of Injunctions, which were sent 
to the Abbess to be read frequently in Chapter, that faults 
might be corrected. There are a good many of these Visi- 
tation Injunctions still extant, which were published between 
the 14th and 16th centuries, and they throw some light on 
the condition of the Monastery during two hundred and 
fifty years. But it must be borne in mind that they dwell 
solely upon the faults of the community and not upon the 
virtues, and therefore give but a one-sided view of the state 
of the house. What is virtuous and good and regular is 
left unrecorded, whilst what is evil and irregular and faulty 
is prominently brought forward, that it may be corrected. 
This fact must always be borne in mind in reading Visita- 
tion Injunctions, lest an unjust and unfair view be taken of 
the monastic life. Bishop John de Pontoise made a 
Visitation in 1302, and his successor, Bishop Woodlock, 
in 131 1. Their Injunctions are not altogether unlike those 
issued by Archbishop Peckham, when he visited the Abbey 
c. 1282, indeed, his articles are expressly referred to. 

In the first of these Visitations, made during the time 
of Phillipa de Stokes, serious fault is found in matters 
relating to the business of the house, such as rendering the 
accounts, keeping the seal, and the letting of the land. 
Some of the servants had given trouble, and some slack- 
ness in observing the etiquette in the departments of the 
pantry, buttery, and bakery had crept in, the rule of 
Monasteries in these matters being very precise. More 
serious is the reference made to nuns staying with friends 
in the town, a practice which is noticed again and again in 
later times; but the most serious matter is the late rising of 
the Convent, and the irregular hours at which the divine 
offices were said. Still there is nothing scandalous, and the 
Convent, no doubt, continued a steady and peaceful obser- 



Early Episcopal Visitations. 95 



vance of the rules of Saint Benedict, distributed its alms, 
and entertained strangers as in duty bound, — troubled 
somewhat by a want of energy in its ruler, who was be- 
coming infirm, and unable to discharge the very responsible 
duties of her office, on which so much depended. 

In the record of the Visitation, made by Bishop 
Woodlock some nine years later, when Clemencia de 
Guldeford was Abbess, many of the former recommenda- 
tions occur again, indeed, the Bishop expressly refers to 
his predecessor's monitions, but there are some new points. 
Secular persons, many of whom appear to have taken up 
their lodging within the convent, or at least within the 
precincts, are to be sent away, and no seculars are to be 
admitted at all to the Mass celebrated in the Infirmary. 
The Infirmary at Romsey had, as in the case of most 
monasteries, a separate chapel for the sick, that at Romsey 
being dedicated in honour of Saint Andrew. Provision is 
made for the exercise of convalescents in the garden, and 
for a supply of proper food for the patients. A burial is to 
be carried out at the expense of the Abbey," for a nun should 
have no property for such a purpose." Courtesy is again 
enlarged upon, and the younger ladies are to be chastized 
for rebelliousness. 

A passage about children is of much interest, showing 
that Romsey was still an educational establishment, and 
that there was need of care lest the constant presence 
of children should interfere with the Sisters' attention to 
their religious rule of silence and worship. Miss Mary 
Bateson in " Mediaeval England " quotes a visitation in- 
junction made for Romsey with regard to pet animals. 
She says : " The prevalent passion for pet animals which 
infected both sexes, and the lay as well as the religious, 
was commented upon in visitations of monks and nuns 
wherever it had become a nuisance to some of the inmates. 



96 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



The Abbess of Romsey stinted her nuns to provide for her 
dogs and monkeys." 

The large number of nuns is complained of. It was 
supposed that at the new foundation under King Edgar 
there were one hundred, so at least says Peter de Langtoft, 
writing about this time. In 1333, on the death of Sybil 
Carbonel, there were exactly ninety-one ladies in the 
Convent, it would seem, therefore, that the numbers in 
Bishop Woodlock's day may have exceeded one hundred. 
The numbers, however, soon fell, and before many years 
were past the Convent shrank still further, and never 
recovered its former estate. 

With so large a community, and under an Abbess 
who very shortly became infirm, it is not surprising that 
some matters required correction, but of any grave scandal 
not a word is heard, and as no monitions were issued at 
the next Visitation by Bishop Orlton in 1334, it may be 
supposed that during Sybil Carbonel's reign all was well. 
It is, of course, possible that the latter Bishop's Injunctions 
have been lost, but his visitation is described in the register, 
and no Injunctions are appended. 

The Crown made an important concession in 1307. A 
promise was given that during the next vacancy, on the 
death of Phillipa de Stokes, the Prioress should have 
custody of the property, and the Crown's officials should 
not take it into their hands. This consideration was 
followed up in 13 16 by a perpetual concession of this 
privilege. The Abbey, however, had to pay a fine of 
£20 (say ^440) for the first month of the vacancy, and 
if it lasted longer, then they " should pay beyond the said 
£20 at the rate of that sum for the time in which the 
vacancy should happen to last." The Crown also re- 
served the Knights' fees and the right of presenting to 
the churches which might fall vacant. But the concession 



Early Episcopal Visitations. 97 



was worth having, owing to the destructions, wastes, and 
damage done in the woods, forests, and other belongings 
of the Abbey by the hands of the Crown officials. 

" Knights' fees " were an important feature in feudal 
tenure, " the obligation of the Knight's service was to 
furnish a fully armed horseman to serve at his own 
expense for forty days." A very carefully drawn up list 
of Romsey lands was kept by the Crown officers, and in 
this century the Abbess was frequently ordered to send 
her service to the North. In 1309 a muster is called for 
at Newcastle, and again in 13 16 ; a re-summons occurs in 
the next year, and in 13 18 there is a summons to send 
against the Scots, the muster being at York ; and in 1322 
the Abbess is requested to raise as many men-at-arms and 
foot soldiers as she can against the rebels, or adherents of 
the Earl of Lancaster, the place of muster being Coventry. 

What number of Knights the Abbess of Romsey was 
liable for does not appear ; the meaning of Knights' fees, 
whether in part discharged by money payments, and 
whether every five hides of property was in all cases liable 
to supply a knight, is not clear ; if the latter were the case 
the Romsey contingent must have been of importance. 
In Hampshire alone the Abbey held over twenty-five 
hides, to say nothing of the Wiltshire property. 

The Convent continued to be held in esteem by those 
who desired to follow the life of a Religious, and by those 
who wished to dedicate their daughters to such a life ; this 
may be gathered from a repetition, by Bishop Stratford, of 
the order that more nuns were not to be received. Bishop 
Woodlock had ordered, according to a right yielded to the 
Bishop on the new creation of an Abbess, that a lady, 
Isolda de Roches, should be received as a nun and sister 
at his nomination ; his order is dated the 20th November, 
1307. In his Visitation of 131 1, he forbids additions, 

H 



98 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



the proper number being exceeded ; and again in 1327 
[27th October] Bishop Stratford writes : — " It is notorious 
that their house was burdened with ladies beyond the 
established number which used to be kept ; and he has 
heard that they are being pressed to receive more young 
ladies (damoyseles) as nuns ; he orders them strictly that 
no young lady, received by them, be veiled, nor any other 
received until the Bishop shall have visited them, which 
will be very shortly, or until they have special orders from 
him." 

The special orders followed quickly, for on the 1st of 
July, 1328, the Bishop gives a permission: — "We have 
heard that, at the request of Master John de Scures, they 
are willing to receive Katherine, daughter of ' nostre cher 
Vadlet' {i.e., dependent or servant), Robert de Warham, as 
nun, if they have the Bishop's leave ; and since he cannot 
visit them as soon as they expected, and does not wish any 
longer to delay carrying out their wish in this matter, he 
gives them leave to receive and give her the veil, if they 
can do it without damage to the house, notwithstanding 
any other order from him." A few days later follows yet 
another letter dated 17th July, 1328. The Bishop writes: 
" Understanding that the Archbishop, after being raised to 
that dignity has the right of making one nun in the 
monastery of Romsey," the Bishop asks for the admission 
of Denise de la Rye, whose manners and conversation have 
been oftentimes commended to him. Again, five years 
later, on the death of Sybil Carbonel, Bishop Stratford 
exercises his right, when a new Abbess was created, and 
grants his favour to Alice, daughter of John de Hamptone, 
his steward (23rd of October, 1333) ; he claims, on the 
26th of November following, the right to nominate another 
because of " the profession of ladies of that house " which 
he had lately made, and appoints Jouette de Stretford " en 
regard de charite." 



Early Episcopal Visitations. 99 



Nor were the Bishop and Archbishop the only persons 
who, up to this time, claimed the privilege, evidently one of 
some value, of nominating a nun, for the family of le Rous 
of Inmere, in Wilts, held the like right, which they now 
resigned. The words of the deed are : " A release to the 
Abbey of Romsey of a right, which the releasor had 
claimed, to present two nuns to be veiled in the said Abbey 
with a valect " {i.e., a servant, perhaps maidservant in this 
case), " to be likewise maintained there," etc. (September, 
I3I3)- 

From a long list of the nuns, dated 1333, taken with 
the above nominations, it may be gathered that the country 
gentlefolk and the officials of bishops and nobles found 
in Romsey a home for many of their daughters. The 
popularity of the Abbey suggests that it was still doing 
good work in the matter of education or, at least, that it 
played an important part in the life of the better class 
families in the diocese. 

There was a great dearth in England during years 
13 1 5-21, and it is possible that some diminution in fruits 
and rents may have led to a permission being granted to 
Romsey to appropriate to the Convent's use the Rectory 
of Itchenstoke, of which they were Patrons, 6th April, 13 17. 
By appropriation, the Convent obtained the greater tithes 
for their own use, the lesser ones being left for the Vicar, 
who should be appointed ; hence the distinction between 
rectors and vicars. 



REGISTER OF BISHOP JOHN DE PONTOISE. 

INJUNCCIONES ABBATISSE DE RUMSEY. 

Visitacio Abbatisse et Conventus de Romeseie (1302). The 
Bishop having found certain things to be corrected, he wills and 
commands : — First, whereas in the last visitation he ordered that 
an account should be rendered twice in the year, and at the ending 



ioo Records of Romsey Abbey. 



of the account, the state of the house should be declared by the 
auditors of the convent or at least by the seniors of the convent, 
which in the present visitation he has found wholly omitted, he 
orders under pain of excommunication that such account be 
rendered, in future once in the year, and at the ending of the same, 
the state of the house be declared before the whole convent in 
chapter. 

Item, that the convent should rise earlier than they were used 
to do, and sing Matins and other Hours at the proper hours of the 
day, so that High Mass should always be celebrated before the 
ninth hour ; all the chaplains are forbidden under pain of suspen- 
sion to presume to celebrate after the ninth hour, but that they 
begin Mass at such an hour that they can well celebrate before 
the ninth hour. 

Item, that in receipt and distribution of the rents, two of the 
most able and discreet ladies be joined to the prioress, by 
consent of the larger and saner part of the whole convent, and 
by their counsel the rents be divided between the ladies, and 
expended in the usual manner. 

Item, that all the usual pittances, distributed among the ladies, 
be distributed without any diminution in future at the usual 
terms, and especially those pittances which the bishop found 
subtracted, namely, one of 6d. to each lady yearly on the 
feast of S. Martin, and another of 6d. likewise to each lady when 
blood is let. 

Item, that the doors of the cloister and dormitory be more 
strictly and better kept and closed. 

Item, whereas from the bad keeping of the common seal many 
evils to the house have hitherto happened, as the Bishop has now 
learnt from experience of the fact, and also may happen unless 
wholesome remedy be applied, three at least of the discreeter 
ladies be appointed by the Abbess and the larger and saner part 
of the convent, to keep the seal, and when any letter shall be 
sealed with the common seal in the chapter before the whole 
convent, it shall be read and explained in an intelligible tongue to 



Early Episcopal Visitations. 



ioi 



all the ladies, publicly, distinctly, and openly, and afterwards 
sealed in the same chapter, not in corners or secretly as has 
hitherto been the custom, and signed as it was read, so that what 
concerns all may be approved by all, which done the seal shall be 
replaced in the same place under the said custody. 

Item, a useless, superfluous, quarrelsome, and incontinent 
servant and one using insolent language to the ladies shall be 
removed within a month from the reception of these presents, and 
especially John Chark, who has often spoken ill and con- 
tumaciously in speaking to and answering the ladies, unless he 
correct himself, so that no more complaints be made to the 
Bishop. 

Item, that the good customs and courtesies hitherto observed 
among the ladies, as of the pantry, the buttery and the bakery, be 
in no way lessened (subtrahantur) in the future, but from day to 
day, be kept. 

Item, it is forbidden to eat, drink, or spend the night in the 
town of Romsey with any religious or secular person, and the 
Abbess shall not grant licence to any religious lady, to the 
contrary. 

Item, the Abbess shall not sell any corrodies or grant any 
pensions, without asking the counsel and assent of the bishops. 

Item, no immovable goods of the Monastery, and especially 
those nine acres of land with a meadow, which have newly come 
to their hands, shall be alienated at farm unless to the greater 
utility of the Monastery, and by the express wish and assent of 
the whole convent. 

All these things shall be read and recited in chapter, before 
the whole convent, at least once a month until they be all executed, 
as is expedient. 

Dated at Wolvesey, Wednesday next before the feast of 
S. Peter in the chair (22nd February), 1302. 



102 



Records of Romsey Abbey. 



REGISTER OF BISHOP HENRY WOODLOCK. 

Decretum de Romesey [folio 153]. 

1. — Mass of the Blessed Virgin and Mass in the infirmary, 
celebrated daily, shall be begun so early in the morning that the 
ladies in the same shall not be at all hindered from other Masses 
to be sung solemnly — and at the Mass of the Blessed Virgin, 
eight nuns at least " in dies intitulentur," who shall come to Mass 
before the beginning of the Kyrie, without delay, so that they 
who come later (tardius) to the said Mass shall be subjected to 
the same penalty as those who do not observe silence. And lest, 
in hearing Masses, it happen that the devotion of the nuns be 
hindered by a concourse of secular persons, we, on pain of greater 
excommunication, firmly prohibit permission to seculars of any 
condition or sex, living within the precincts of the Monastery, to 
enter to hear Mass celebrated in the infirmary, as they have 
hitherto been accustomed to do. 

2. — Item, the Convent shall rise earlier than is accustomed 
for the office of matins, and shall sing the other canonical hours 
at the due and stated times, so that High Mass be commonly 
celebrated before the ninth hour ; their chaplains are forbidden, 
on pain of suspension, to celebrate after the ninth hour, except on 
fast days. 

3. — Following the footsteps of Robert, Archbishop of Canter- 
bury, because of the continual sojourn of seculars, we find the 
tranquillity of the nuns to be much disturbed and scandals to 
arise in your monastery, ordered (on pain of excommunication 
and deposition of the Abbess, Prioress, and greater officials of 
the Convent, if they be found disobedient or negligent in this), 
that secular women, married and single {coniugatas et solutas), 
staying there, from the time of the receipt of the presents, shall 
be wholly removed from the Abbey without hope of return. 

4. — Recalling to their memory, the statutes of John, the 
Bishop's predecessor, ordered that the officials and ministers of 
the house render an account of their administration once in the 
year, before auditors specially appointed for this, and at the ending 



Early Episcopal Visitations. 103 



of the same, the state of the house shall be declared before the 
whole Convent in Chapter. 

5. — Because it is fitting that what concerns all be approved of 
by all, ordered that the common seal be kept under three keys in 
the keeping of three ladies. And when any letter is to be sealed 
with it, it shall first be read in chapter in an intelligible tongue, 
before sealing and after, publicly and openly, on pain of deposi- 
tion of the abbess, prioress, sub-prioress, and elders of the 
convent. No alienations of lands, possessions, liveries, or other 
greater things shall be made without the bishop's license, specially 
sought and obtained. 

6. — According to the ordinance of the bishop's predecessors, 
ordered that in receipt and distribution of rents, two of the most 
able and discreet ladies be joined with the prioress, by whose 
advice the said rents shall be expended, in the accustomed way ; 
usual pittances to the ladies, to be distributed without any 
diminution, and especially those which our predecessor found 
withdrawn (subtracters), viz., one of 6d. which each lady used to 
receive when blood is let, and one of 6d. which used to be 
distributed, to each lady yearly, at the feast of S. Martin. 

7. — The doors of the cloister (of) the dormitory shall be kept 
at the proper hours and closed, and especially after compline, all 
seculars being excluded ; no lady shall eat, drink or spend the 
night in the town of Romsey outside the precincts of the 
monastery. Item, cum Religionis perfectio ad caritatis opera 
finaliter ordinetur, ordered that for digging a grave and 
preparation of the coffin for burial of the body of a nun 
who has died, and for pittances to the sisters on the day of burial, 
the goods of the deceased nun shall not be expended, because she 
ought not to have private property, but the common goods of 
the church shall be spent. Other good customs shall be observed, 
as of bread and beer, so that bread shall be wholly brought back 
to the proper weight and quality and quantity hitherto used. 

8. — Because we have found your church burdened by the 
multitude of nuns, ordered on pain of deposition of the abbess, 



104 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



prioress and other officials, that no nun be received among you 
until your collegium be of the number first appointed. 

9. — Item, because they are unaware that, amongst the vows of 
Religion, the vow of obedience is the greater, ordered that the 
younger ladies reverently obey the seniors and especially suis 
fires identibus, and if any rebels are found they shall be atrius 
corrifiiantur in chapter before all, and the fault growing, the 
penalty of disobedience shall be increased. No nun who has 
been tacitly or expressly professed, and has come to legal age, 
a tractibus communibus per contemfitum excludatur. 

10. — Item, ordered that sufficient food be provided, according 
to the possibilities {facilitates) of the monastery, for the sick who 
cannot use the common food, by the Abbess and others appointed 
to the care of the sick, and that those who are still well {sane), 
now these, now those, not always the same, should be called to 
the Abbess's table for recreation. 

11. — There shall be an entrance into the garden by a gate 
or postern for the sick, in an inconspicuous place {in loco non 
susfiecto), for their recreation and solace. Nuns who have been 
bled shall be allowed to enter the cloister if they wish. Chaplains 
of the Abbey shall be prevented {arceantur) frequent access to 
the infirmary, by the Abbess and other presidents, so that they 
shall not come there without necessary cause or unless specially 
called by the Abbess and other presidents of the order. 

12. — There shall not be in the dormitory with the nuns any 
children, either boys or girls, nor shall they be led by the nuns 
into the choir while the divine office is celebrated. Curtains 
shall be removed for ever from before the beds of the nuns. 

13. — No keepers of woods, reapers, or beadles {messores aut 
bedelli) shall be appointed for life, but at the will of the Abbess 
and steward as appears most expedient. No women servants shall 
remain unless of good conversation and honest. Pregnant, incon- 
tinent, quarrelsome women and those answering the nuns contu- 
maciously, all superfluous and useless servants, to be removed 
within a month from the time of the receipt of these presents. 



Early Episcopal Visitations. 105 



All these premisses, the Bishop has caused to be translated into 
French, that they may more easily understand them ; they shall 
be recited before all, in Chapter, in the week next (week) after the 
Feast of S. Michael, and in Septuagesima, and on the fourth 
weekday {ebdomada) after Easter, and the first weekday {ebdomada) 
of July, and inquiry shall then be made of the non-observance 
of the same, and those thus guilty shall be punished by the 
penalties, inserted in these statutes, or by other penalties when 
none are certainly expressed. 

Sealed. Dated at Dounton, 23rd March 131 1, sixth year of 
consecration. 

Memorandum that 10th March, 13 10, at Esshere, the Abbess 
and Convent of Romsey were written to, for a visitation 
of Henry, Bishop of Winchester, on Monday next after the Feast 
of S. Gregory, Pope, in the accustomed manner. 



REFERENCES. 



Parliamentary Writs and Surveys. 
The Episcopal Registers of Winchester. 



CHAPTER 



VII. 



A.D. 1333— 1349. 

THE GREAT PESTILENCE. 



' ' A voice in Rama has been heard ; much 
weeping and crying has sounded throughout 
the countries of the globe." 

Bp. William de Edyndon's Pastoral Letter. 



Chapter VII. 



THE GREAT PESTILENCE. 



HE last year of Bishop John de Stratford's Episcopate, 



1333, witnessed the election of a new Abbess of 
Romsey. Few events of great importance are on record 
during this lady's life, but at her death a great blow fell 
upon the Abbey from which it never wholly recovered. 

The preceding Abbess, Sybil Carbonel, died on the 
1st of June, 1333, and was buried eight days later. Three 
weeks after her death the nuns gathered in the Chapter 
House according to custom, and settled on the 25th June 
as the day for the election of a new Abbess. The election 
of the head of a house was a weighty business, and some- 
times occupied many weeks. The licence of the King had 
to be obtained, and no doubt, when the Chapter met on 
the 25th June, some persons had already journeyed to and 
from the Court to announce the death and obtain the 
conge d'elire, or licence to elect. 

All members of the Convent who had a voice in 
Chapter were summoned to the election ; on this occasion 
it was found that Sir Richard de Lusteshull, canon and 
prebendary, and some of the nuns were absent. The other 
canon and prebendary of Romsey, however, Master Richard 
de Chaddesley, was present in his own name and also as 
proxy for the remaining prebendary, Master Robert de 
Stratford, the incumbent of Edington Rectory. With 




i io Records of Romsey Abbey. 



Master Richard were ninety-one nuns — they are all named, 
and the full list with the officers is printed below. 

A letter from the Prioress Agnes de Stanlegh, describing 
the election for the Bishop's information, gives a graphic 
account of the customary proceedings. " The word of God 
having been propounded, the grace of the Holy Spirit 
devoutly invoked, the hymn ' Veni creator spiritus ' sung, 
and the constitutions of general councils read, 'Quia propter 
Indempnitatibus monasteriorum, etc.,' a warning was given 
to all under suspension and interdict, and all who had no 
right in the election, to go out, which was done by Master 
John Leech, who was constituted spokesman. The election 
was then proceeded with." 

There were three methods of election, says Dr. Gasquet, 
(i) by individual election, " electio per viam scrutinii," 
each member of the community voting separately and 
secretly, (2) by the choice of a certain number, or even 
of one eminent person to elect in the name of the com- 
munity, a mode of election known as " electio per compro- 
missum," and (3) by acclamation or the uncontradicted 
declaration of the common wish of the body. 

All three methods were used or attempted at one time 
or another by the sisters of Romsey, but on this occasion 
they chose the first. Prioress Agnes continues : " They 
unanimously chose as ' Scrutatores ' Master Richard de 
Chaddesley, prebendary of the Church, Cecily de Blontes- 
done and Agnes de Brommore, nuns, to whom they gave 
power to take the votes of all, secretly and singly, first their 
own, and then those of the others present, reduce them to 
writing and declare them. The ' Scrutatores ' retired to 
one part of the Chapter House, associating with themselves 
Master John de Leech and Master John Ace, notary public, 
by consent of all present, who took the votes, reduced them 
to writing and published them. This being done Alice de 



The Great Pestilence. 



hi 



Persshete and Alice Mounceaux, nuns, previously absent, 
though called to the election, entered the Chapter House 
and consented to the premisses. The greater part of the 
whole Chapter and Convent had voted for Joan Icthe, 
thirty years old and more, born of lawful wedlock, expressly 
professed, whom Agnes de Stanlegh solemnly elected." 

" After singing Te Deum laudamus," the prioress con- 
tinues, " we carried the elect, bashful and holding back, to 
the high altar of our church, and laid her there ; the same 
psalm and a certain prayer having been said over her, 
immediately the election was declared before the clergy 
and people by Master Walter de Penes, clerk, first in the 
choir and afterwards in the nave. The election having 
been presented to the elect by Cecily de Blontesdone, she 
was asked to consent to it on the Saturday following, 26th 
June, on which day after much persuasion she consented, 
and the King (Edward III) gave his consent." 

The business, however, was by no means as yet com- 
plete. Richard de Chaddesley, acting for the Bishop as 
Vicar-General, orders the official of the Archdeacon on 
4th July, 1333, to cite any opposers to appear at Andover 
on the first lawful day after the feast of St. Margaret (20th 
July), which day was a Wednesday. The Prioress and 
Convent appeared by their Proctor, Thomas de Wordy, the 
Abbess-elect appeared in person, and no opposers seem to 
have presented themselves. The deeds of the election, 
eight in all, were produced, and the next legal day after 
the feast of the Blessed Mary Magdalene (22nd July) was 
appointed for the publication of them, which, after long and 
solemn discussion, was done, and the election confirmed. 
Immediately the Te Deum was sung, prayer was made 
over the Abbess, and she took the oath of canonical 
obedience to the Bishop and his successors and ministers 
on the holy gospels before the high altar of the Church 
of Andover. 



ii2 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



This was on 23rd July, but it was the 3rd of September 
before the Bishop gave orders that Joan Icthe should be 
inducted into corporal possession of the monastery, and 
should have assigned to her a stall in choir and a place in 
chapter in the accustomed manner ; at the same time the 
Bishop ordered the prioress and convent to be obedient to 
the Abbess as members to the head, giving her obedience, 
reverence, and honour in all due things as is fitting. 



Sisters of Romsey 



AT THE 

Election of Abbess Johanna Icthe, 25TH June, 1333. 



Agnes de Stanlegh, prioress. 

Joan Gernays, sub-prioress. 

Alice de Roppeligh, sextoness. 

Joan Icth, cellaress. 

Olive Beaufou, chantress. 

Agnes de Brommore. 

Cecily de Blontesdone. 

Ela Croupes. 

Ellen Baa. 

Alice de Roucestre. 

Agatha de Wynton. 

Katharine de Grymstede. 

Beatrice Beaufou. 

Amice Bluet. 

Margaret Prime. 

Agnes Beaufou. 

Alice de Waltham. 

Sarra Okly. 

Alice Brembelsshete. 

Margaret de Tydeleshide. 

Lucy Gower. 

Maud de Grimstede. 

Margiry Deneys. 



Margaret Poyntz. 
Amice Malure. 
Joan de Farnlington. 
Amice de Forstebury. 
Joan de Compton. 
Alice Levynton. 
Katharine Joevene. 
Joan Poyntz. 
Joan Beaufou. 
Agatha Bekk. 
Joan Payn. 
Beatrice Neyvill. 
Isabel de Hameldone. 
Margaret FitzWarin. 
Amice de Wynhale. 
Eugenia Chartres. 
Margaret Tracy. 
Margaret Warblynton. 
Alice de Graveneye. 
Katherine de Aysshelonde. 
Margiry de Buttesthorn. 
Isolda Roches. 
Maud Trenchard. 



The Great Pestilence. 



113 



Agnes de Wynton. 


Munele Cotele. 


Joan de Roppelye. 


Katharine de Donton. 


Agnes Waram. 


Margaret de Westover. 


TT T CC 

Hawyse Luffeguave. 


Eleanor Rude. 


Denise Golaffre. 


Christine Bromham. 


Alice de Wynton. 


Katharine Warham. 


Isabel de Staunford. 


J oan de 1 ottelord. 


Mary de Roppelye, 


Joan Carbonel. 


Alice de Inuddene. 


Alice Carbonel. 


Margiry Forestir. 


Joan de Enedford. 


JMizabetn oylrewast. 


iiiditn Jiymer. 


Joan de Sparkeford. 


Alice de Anne. 


Margaret Pauncefot. 


Constance Wauncy. 


Margiry atte Rye. 


Joan de lystede. 


Joan Boyton[er]. 


Joan de Wynterbourne. 


T T"> - _ 

Joan rune. 


Katharine Warham. 


Isabel Fraunceys. 


Alice de Cicestre. 


Julia de Romesye. 


Petronilla de Wendlesworth. 


Christine Okham. 


Margaret Fokeram. 


Emma Doignel. 


Isabel Walraund. 


Maud de Roppelye. 


Alice de Persshete. 


Elizabeth Silvayn. 


Alice Mounceaux. 


Christine Brikevill. 





The large number of nuns at this election shows that 
Romsey had fairly kept up its state from the time of its 
foundation, when tradition says it numbered a hundred 
ladies. This tradition is preserved in the words of Peter 
de Langtoft (who died early in the fourteenth century) 
concerning King Edgar : — 

" Mikille he wirschiped God, and served our Lady ; 
The Abbey of Rumege he feffed richely, 
With rentes full gode and kirkes of pris, 
He did ther in of Nunnes a hundreth ladies." 

The members of the community here, as in other places, 
were mainly recruited from the county gentle-folk. If it 

1 



ii4 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



were possible to trace these ladies' families, an interesting 
picture of the country side in the middle ages would be 
presented, but this is impossible without a wide knowledge 
of county records, and perhaps impossible at all. A few 
families may be guessed at. Alice de Brembelsshete, 
or Bramshot, belonged no doubt to a family of that place 
who are spoken of both in the thirteenth and fourteenth 
centuries. Margery de Buttesthorne may have been the 
daughter of Roger de Buttesthorne of Ringwood. In 
the latter part of the century (1372) Joan, daughter and 
heir of Richard de Buttesthorne, was Patron of Minstead in 
the New Forest. Johanna de Compton — the Patent Rolls, 
1343-5, mention a Sir John of the Isle of Wight. Isabella 
Fraunceys — there was a Mayor of Winchester of this name 
mentioned in the Charters of Selborne Priory in 1323. 

The Grymstedes belonged to Brockenhurst ; a Thomas 
de Grymstede about this date had dealings in respect of 
the Manor of Terstwood, just below Romsey, and thirty 
years later John de Grymstede died possessed of Plaitford 
Manor and holding the wardenship of Milchet Park. 
Margaret Pauncefote — from early times this family held 
lands on the west side of Romsey and continued land 
owners for centuries there. The name has survived in the 
farm on the road to the Forest — Pauncefoot Hill. A John 
Pauncevot held lands at Mayhnestone (Mainstone) in 13 18. 

Johanna Payn — the Payns held land at King's Som- 
borne and at Winchester. Andrew and his son Robert 
are both spoken of in the early part of the century. Alice 
de Thuddene — Bishop Woodlock appointed a John de 
Thuddene his marshal at the beginning of the century, and 
he was succeeded by his son Walter in Bishop Stratford's 
time. The former was also the Bishop's bailiff at Walt- 
ham. Katharine Warham — Robert Wareham was bailiff 
of Winchester in 1330, and this family who lived at 




THE OUTER GATE. — BEFORE REBUILDING 
A.D. 1886-88. 



To face p. 114.] 



The Great Pestilence. 



115 



Hannington gave birth in the next century (1450) to one 
who became Archbishop of Canterbury (1503 — 1532). 
Alice de Persshete was very possibly the daughter of Sir 
Nicholas de Persshete (of Spurshot) near Romsey, which 
manor lies just across the valley facing the Abbey. This 
Knight, says Mr. Baigent, was lord of the manor of 
Winterslow, Wilts, and was steward of Hyde Abbey, and 
one of the knights of the shire, 1309 — 13. Walter de 
Netheravene, chaplain, granted this gentleman a tenement 
in Churchstile Street, Romsey, together with 10s. annual 
rent. Julia de Romeseye was doubtless a member of the 
Romeseye family, well known both in Somerset and Hants, 
whose pedigree is given in another chapter. 

One of the officers of the Convent at this time was a 
Nicholas de Brayesfeld, or Braishfield as it is now spelt, 
a village about three miles north-east of Romsey. He is 
described as having the custody of the gate, in other words 
the porter. He was a property owner as will appear, and 
it may be supposed that the actual work of keeping the 
gate was done by deputy or under-official. The gate 
stood on the east side of the precincts, facing the Market 
Place, where a modern arch has been erected in connection 
with the Congregational Church. A photograph of the 
gate existing immediately before the building of this 
modern archway is given on the opposite page. 

The custodian of the gate on 26th August, 1 33 1, had 
a salary which was by no means to be despised. Nicholas 
de Brayesfeld drew 365 loaves, 365 gallons of the convent 
ale, 365 loaves for servants, 15s. 2d. for meals from the 
kitchen, $s. for a robe, and 19 quarters of bran. A pious 
wish on the part of the custodian and his wife Emma to 
have divine service celebrated daily for their souls' health, 
prompted them to offer to the Abbess and Convent a 
messuage and twenty-five acres of meadow in Romsey, 



n6 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



together with a release of their right in the gate and its 
stipend, if the Abbess would find a chaplain to celebrate. 
There appears to have been some hitch in the matter, 
perhaps their offer to release their right in the gate proved 
an illegal act, or was not acceptable to the Convent ; and 
on 16th July, 1332, they offered three and a half acres of 
land and two and a half acres of meadow in Romesye to 
one Simon de Dounamene, a chaplain, to celebrate divine 
service daily in the chapel of S. Nicholas in Romsey Abbey, 
for their good estate in life, and for their souls after death. 

Nicholas died within a year or two, but his widow sur- 
vived him for some years. In 1335 she gave to the Abbess 
six messuages and certain lands and rents in Romsey to 
find a chaplain in the Abbey to celebrate Divine Service 
for the souls of Nicholas, Emma, and all the faithful 
departed. In the accounts of the King's bailiff, after the 
Suppression, a farm is spoken of, " with garden, dovecot, 
land and pasture in Romsey infra, which Nicholas Wethers, 
chaplain, lately occupied as parcel of the chantry of the 
late Nicholas Braffeld, and which had been granted to John 
Foster for life." This is also described as " a messuage, 
between the watercourse running to Towne Mill and the 
field called Peryton on the east, and Bannyng Street on 
the west, with a close (two acres) between Romsey felde 
and the river Teste, a close called parsonage acre between 
the land near Wodley which John Cocke and William 
Holme held, and a close (one acre) next the lands of 
John Kychyner and Nicholas Sedgewyke, and abutting 
towards the east upon Eve Lane, which messuage and 
closes formerly belonged to a chantry founded within the 
monastery church of Romsey by John (? Nicholas) Brash- 
felde, and lately were in the occupation of John Foster " 
[17th December, 1544]. On 6th January, 1343, the same 
Emma obtained a faculty from Bishop Orlton to transfer 



The Great Pestilence. 



117 



the body of her father William from the cemetery into the 
chapel of S. Nicholas, which she had endowed as a chantry 
for the benefit of her own soul and the souls of her parents. 

The piety and filial regard of this family of the four- 
teenth century is a pleasing picture, and were it possible to 
fill in the outline in greater detail, and say who the father 
William was, and where the Brashfield chantry stood, the 
picture would be of even greater interest. 

A considerable number of Saints besides S. Nicholas 
were commemorated by the chapels and altars of the 
Abbey. The patrons, S. Mary the Blessed Virgin and S. 
Ethelfleda, had altars in the Lady Chapel. This chapel 
was at first a Norman one, the foundations of which were 
discovered by the late Vicar of Romsey, the Rev. E. L. 
Berthon, as already described in a former chapter. The 
chapel of S. Anne, the mother of Our Lady, was situate 
either in the choir aisle or transept chapel on the south 
side, and the chapel of S. Nicholas or the Braishfield 
chantry may have occupied the other one of these spots. 

On the north side in the parish church or nave aisle was 
the altar of S. Laurence, and at a rather later time when 
the parish church was enlarged there was erected in it the 
chantry of S. George. There was also a chapel of S. 
Peter near the Abbess' lodging, and a chapel of S. Andrew 
within the Infirmary. About the time of the foundation of 
the Braishfield chantry Bishop Orlton gave a faculty 
(6th December, 1334) for celebrating upon a portable altar 
before the image of S. Catherine. This image stood in 
the parish church or north aisle of the nave of the Abbey 
church. 

Bishop Edyndon granted (27th October, 1346) a special 
license to Emma de Braishfield to have masses celebrated in 
the oratory of her house within the parish of Romsey, to 



n8 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



continue at the Bishop's pleasure. Emma de Braishfield's 
house was not the only private dwelling in the town which 
had an oratory ; Robert Martyn also owned a house with 
a like provision, and he too obtained from Bishop Edyndon 
(26th January, 1347) a license, "to have masses celebrated 
in the oratory of his house in the town of Romeseye, in the 
presence of his wife and their free family, by a fit priest, 
without prejudice to the parish church, or the right of any 
other, during a year only." The Martyns belonged to 
Yeovil, and this Robert appears to have been the second 
husband of Margaret nee Byset, the widow of John de 
Romeseye, through whom he occupied the manor of Rock- 
bourne near Fordingbridge. No doubt this house in 
Romsey belonged as an inheritance of the Romeseye 
family, who held property here for several centuries. 

The advent, in 1349, of the Great Pestilence, or Black 
Death as it is commonly known, brought desolation to 
Romsey Abbey in common with other communities 
throughout the country. 1 It is supposed that this awful 
scourge originated in China in 1334. Thirteen millions 
of persons are believed to have been swept away by the 
floods of the Yang-tsi or destroyed by hunger and disease, 
and according to the rumours of the time it was the 
corruption of unburied corpses which caused the Black 
Death. In China the pestilence ended in 1342, but not so 
for the rest of the world ; it spread, and being a soil poison 
found favourable conditions throughout mediaeval Europe. 
This was the age of feudalism and walled towns, with a 
cramped and unwholesome manner of life on inhabited 
spots of ground, choked with the waste matter of 
generations. 

The monasteries were especially favourable spots. 
Within the walls, under the floor of the chapel or cloisters, 

1 From Creighton's History of Epidemics in Great Britain. 



The Great Pestilence. 



119 



were buried not only generations of monks, but often the 
bodies of princes, notables, and of great ecclesiastics. 
Again, in every parish the house of the priest would have 
stood close to the church and churchyard. Thus the 
pestilence spread slowly but with a certainty, which would 
alone have made it terrifying, taking a whole twelve 
months to pass from Dorset to Yorkshire, and exhibiting 
its greatest power in walled town, monastery, and in the 
neighbourhood of churchyards. 

But whilst this pestilence was a soil poison, it is not to 
be supposed that it was not directly contagious, it was 
virulent, and so contagious that those who touched the 
dead, or even the sick, were incontinently infected that they 
died, and both penitent and confessor were borne together 
to the same grave. It is supposed that the population of 
England at this time was not more than five millions, and 
that half of this total succumbed. One half of the clergy 
in the diocese of York died, and in Hampshire some 200 
clergy perished. 

The pestilence entered a port in Dorset, said to be 
Weymouth, about August, 1348. Bishop William de 
Edyndon wrote an eloquent letter to the Prior of S. 
Swithun's, Winchester, on the 24th of October following, 
and sent similar letters throughout the diocese : — 

1 "William, by Divine providence, Bishop, to the Prior and 
Chapter of our church of Winchester, health, grace, and bene- 
diction. A voice in Rama has been heard ; much weeping and 
crying has sounded throughout the countries of the globe. 
Nations deprived of their children in the abyss of an unheard 
plague, refuse to be consoled because, as is terrible to hear of, 
cities, towns, castles, and villages, adorned with noble and hand- 
some buildings, and wont, up to the present, to rejoice in an 
illustrious people, in their wisdom and counsel, in their strength, 

1 The Great Pestilence, Dr. Gasquet. 



i2o Records of Romsey Abbey. 



and in the beauty of their matrons and virgins ; wherein too, 
every joy abounded, and whither, too, multitudes of people 
flocked from afar for relief ; all these have been already stripped 
of their population by the calamity of the said pestilence, more 
cruel than any two-edged sword. And into these said places now 
none dare enter, but fly afar from them as from the dens of wild 
beasts. Every joy has ceased in them ; pleasant sounds are 
hushed, and every note of gladness is banished. They have 
become abodes of horror and a very wilderness ; fruitful country 
places, without the tillers thus carried off, are deserts and 
abandoned to barrenness. And news most grave which we report 
with the deepest anxiety, this cruel plague as we have heard, has 
already begun to afflict the various coasts of the realm of England. 
We are struck with the greatest fear lest, which God forbid, the 
fell disease ravage any part of our city and diocese. And 
although God, to prove our patience, and justly to punish our 
sins, often afflicts us, it is not in man's power to judge the Divine 
counsels. Still it is much to be feared that man's sensuality, 
which, propagated by the tendency of the old sin of Adam, from 
youth inclines all to evil, has now fallen into deeper malice and 
justly provoked the Divine wrath by a multitude of sins to this 
chastisement. 

" But because God is loving and merciful, patient, and above 
all hatred, we earnestly beg that by your devotion He may ward 
off from us the scourge we have so justly deserved, if we now 
turn to Him humbly with our whole heart. We exhort you in 
the Lord, and in virtue of obedience we strictly enjoin you to 
come before the face of God, with contrition and confession of 
all your sins, together with the consequent due satisfaction through 
the efficacious works of salutary penance. We order further that 
every Sunday and Wednesday all of you, assembled together in 
the choir of your monastery say the seven Penitential psalms, and 
the fifteen gradual psalms, on your knees, humbly and devoutly. 
Also on every Friday, together with these psalms, we direct that 
you chant the long litany, instituted against pestilences of this 
kind by the Holy Fathers, through the Market Place of our City 




COFFIN LID OF ABBESS JOAN ICTHK, A. D. 1 349. 
Broadlands Collection. 



To face p. 120.] 



The Great Pestilence. 



121 



of Winchester, walking in procession together with the clergy and 
people of the city. We desire that all should be summoned to 
these solemn processions and urged to make use of other devout 
exercises, and directed to follow these processions in such a way 
that during their course they walk with heads bent down, with 
feet bare, and fasting ; whilst with pious hearts they repeat their 
prayers and, putting away vain conversation, say as often as 
possible the Lord's Prayer and Hail Mary. Also that they should 
remain in earnest prayer to the end of the Mass, which at the 
end of the procession we desire you to celebrate in your church." 

But the diocese did not escape, nor did the Abbey of 
Romsey. The Abbess Johanna Icthe died, and the rather 
plainly cut coffin slab, still to be seen at the east end of 
the Church, probably commemorates her death. Some 
few years ago the faint outline of the figure, with a dog at 
her feet, under a cross lying above her could be traced. 
The accompanying sketch, made in the early part of the 
nineteenth century, exhibits the condition of the stone at 
that date. There are the remains of the surrounding 
inscription still to be seen, which is as follows : — 
" Johanna hie jacet humata 
Ipsieus anime Christus det premi. . . ." 

A later hand has cut in the middle of the slab, "Johanna, 
Abbatissa de Romeseye, cir. 1349." 

Besides the Abbess, at least one of the Prebendaries, 
Richard de Lusteshull, and also two Vicars, Nicholas de 
Boteleston and William de Bures, died, the latter only 
surviving his appointment for two months ; and of the 
nuns no doubt a large proportion. The pestilence, and the 
troubles which came in its train, proved fatal to the Convent. 
It has been observed by Dr. Gasquet that whilst at the 
election of Abbess Johanna in 1333, there were ninety 
nuns ; in 1478 their number is found reduced to eighteen, 
and they never rose above twenty-five until their final 
suppression. 



122 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



It is impossible to read over the list of sisters given on a 
previous page and not to be moved with pity at the thought 
of how many of them were suddenly cut off ; nor can one 
but be struck with the prophetic fitness of the text on 
which Bishop Orlton preached in the Chapter House at his 
visitation of the sisters fifteen years before, on the 28th of 
November, 1334: "They that were ready went in with 
Him to the marriage." The grief, terror, and desolation of 
the country at large was thus shared by the Convent of 
Romsey. Doubtless amongst this large community there 
were found noble and holy women who met the trial with 
courage and resignation, and possibly the inscription on 
her tomb is intended to show how nobly the Mother 
behaved in the midst of her daughters, and how she was 
looked upon as one of those whom the Heavenly Bride- 
groom would welcome amongst the guests at the marriage 
feast, giving them their reward. 



REFERENCES. 

Episcopal Registers. 
Patent Rolls. 

Creighton's History of Epidemics. 
Gasquet's Great Pestilence. 
Winchester Cathedral Chartulary, 



CHAPTER VIII. 



A.D. 1 1 30 1540. 

THE CLERGY, 



' ' The Church of the fourteenth century 
shrivelled into a self-seeking secular priest- 
hood." 

History of the English People.—]. R. Green. 



Chapter VIII. 



THE CLERGY. 



NE or more clergy were attached to monastic 



establishments of women, who celebrated divine 
service for the sisters. In the case of a large monastery 
like Romsey very ample provision was made, from early 
times, for a staff of clergy. Many references to these 
officers of the convent, beginning in the twelfth century 
and continuing down to the suppression of the Monastery 
in the sixteenth century, have survived. The earliest 
mention of Romsey clergy occurs in a deed of Abbess 
Hadwisa, c. 1130, in which four Presbyters — Robert, John, 
Roger, and Admundus — appear as witnesses together with 
Gilbert the Deacon, and the " clericuli (perhaps clergy in 
minor orders) of Rumesia, Philip, Walter, Osbert, and the 
other Osbert, Nicholas." A little later under Abbess 
Juliana, c. 1 171, the Chaplain Alan, and Randolph the 
Chaplain of the Abbey, are mentioned. In the early part 
of the thirteenth century, Ralph and Simon his brother and 
Richard de Mannestun are spoken of as Presbyters, and 
about the same time Walter Galne and Adam are 
described as Chaplains. In a deed of Abbess Cecilia 
(1238-47), John de Romeseia and Adam appear described 
as Canons of Romesye. The former was also Rector of 
Edyndon, Wilts, and the latter was Rector of S. Laurence, 
Romeseye. 




126 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



From later references to the 1 Canons of Romsey, it is 
evident that there were three Prebendal stalls in the 
Abbey. One is called the Canonry and second Prebend 
in the conventual church of Romsey, to which was annexed 
the Prebendal Church of Edyndon in the Salisbury 
Diocese. Another is described as the Prebend of the 
Parish Church of S. Laurence the Greater, in the house or 
church of the Monastery of Romsey ; to this was attached 
the Church of Tymesbury, situate about two miles higher 
up the valley of the Test, and also the Chapel of Immere 
or Imber, lying in a hollow of the great chalk plateau four 
miles south of Edyndon, or Edington, Wilts. The 
remaining Prebend is spoken of as the co-portion of 
S. Laurence, and to it were attached certain rents at 
Sydmanton in North Hampshire, near Newbury, Berks. 
Each of the Prebendaries had a stall in choir and a voice 
in chapter, and they regularly exercised their rights at the 
election of an abbess, voting either in person or by proxy. 

Non- Residence of Prebendaries. 

It may be doubted if the rectors of Edington served 
their cures in person. An Edward de Overton was the 
cleric at Edington in the time of Prebendary John de 
Romesey, 1294, and there was a succession of these vicars 
or curates-in-charge. 

Prebendary John de Romesey was appointed 1293-4, 
having been recommended by Bishop Pontoise to the 
Abbess and Convent in 1292. He gave to the Abbey, 
soon after his appointment, a ploughland of fifty acres, 
situate in Terstwode or La Waude, worth two marks a 
year, which appears to have been his entire property in 
land. He was no doubt a member of the family of 
Romesey, who for several generations held property in 
the neighbourhood. His predecessor, John de Berwick, 

1 For the succession of clergy vide " List of officers." 



The Clergy. 



127 



appointed in 1286, held Prebends in York, Lichfield and 
London, was Rector of Agmondersham, and was also Dean 
of Wimborne Minster, where he lies buried. A marble 
Altar tomb, now laid flat in the south aisle of the choir 
there, has an eighteenth century plate inserted, which 
records the traditional belief that it was formerly erected 
to his memory, a tradition supported by Leland. 

As in the case of Edington, so with Romsey, the 
Rectors or Prebendaries did not minister within the parish 
and convent, and up to 1321 the Church of S. Laurence 
was probably served by Chaplains, but in that year a 
distinct provision was made for a permanent and resident 
Vicar. The non-residence of Rectors was an evil dealt 
with by the Lateran Council (121 3), and the English 
Bishops would seem to have insisted upon the appoint- 
ment of Vicars in these cases. There are three entries in 
Bishop Asser's register, which give a full account of the 
" ordination " as it is called, of the vicarage of Romsey. 

On the 9th September, 1321, the Bishop appointed a 
perpetual vicarage in the prebendal church of Romsey, 
with the consent of Master James de Florencia and Nicho- 
las de Maydenstane, Canons and Prebendaries, and also 
of the Abbess and Convent, patrons of the said prebends. 
On the nth September he instituted Henry de Chulmarke 
as Vicar, who was presented to the vicarage by the two 
Prebendaries. By this deed the Bishop reserved the right 
of taxing the funds belonging to the Prebends, for the 
benefit of the Vicarage. On the 18th of November in the 
next year, 1322, a deed was drawn up setting out in full 
the provision made for the Vicar and his successors — " It 
is settled and agreed that the said Vicar and his successors 
are to receive, every day, two corrodies, [i.e., an allowance 
of food and drink or equivalent money payment,) from the 
Abbacy of the said Conventual Church, the same as two 



128 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



Nuns of the said house would receive, also the tithes of 
flax, hemp, apples, pigs, geese, cows, milk, cheese, calves, 
colts, pigeons, charcoal, sales of produce, garden curtilages, 
and of eggs, confessions and funeral fees and legacies, 
(legacies to the chancel and fabric of the said Prebendal 
Church and heriots, alone excepted,) also two cartloads of 
hay from the meadow called Smalemead, and all the obla- 
tions and obventions at the altar of S. Laurence and 
elsewhere in the same church. The said Vicar and his 
successors are to discharge all Archidiaconal burdens of 
the incumbency and also the extraordinary burdens of 
the tithe taxed as the Vicar's portion. Moreover the said 
Vicars are to provide and maintain the books and docu- 
ments of the church, and keep the houses in repair, but 
the said Prebendaries and their successors are to maintain 
and repair, in all respects, the chancel of the aforesaid 
Prebendal Church." 

Bishop William of Wykeham, who was zealous in his 
oversight of the Diocese, issued a commission on 15th 
March, 1372, to Thomas de Sheptone, Canon of Wells 
and John Uphulle, Rector of Havant, to ascertain the 
annual value of the impropriate Church of Romsey, with 
a view to adjust the Vicar's portion. In this Bishop's 
register the Prebendal Church is described as in three 
portions : — 

1. W. de Perham. Portion - Tax - 

43 marcs [or £2%. 13s. 4^.= p.d.v. ^688. 1 ] 4 marcs, 4s. 

2. R. de Maydenstane. 

30 marcs [or ,£20 = p.d.v. ^480.] 40s. 

3. Abbess and Convent. 

16 marcs [or £10. 13^ \d. = p.d.v. ^256] 21s. 4<i. 

out of which the Vicar is to receive 18 marcs [or ,£12, a marc 
being 13.?. 4<i. ; = p.d.v. ^288]. 

1 For comparative money values, see Chapter XI. P.d.v. means present day 
value, which is here obtained by multiplying by 24, as for moneys of the 13th 
century. 



The Clergy. 



129 



The same computation is found in Bishop Beaufort's 
register (1405-1447), and is said to be a copy of the tax of 
Pope Nicholas 1 (circa 1291) : a like return was made to the 
Crown officials in 1428: and in 1534, just before the 
suppression, the Prebend was valued at £35. 12s. 8d. and 
the Vicarage at £20. ijs. lid., or about ,£250 at present 
day value. 

The Vicar of S. Laurence does not appear to have 
been without help ; a chaplain is mentioned in Bishop 
Wykeham's time : and there were at least two chaplains 
for the nuns. Just before the suppression a reference is 
made to the Chaplain of the Chapel of S. Andrew within 
the Infirmary, and to the Chaplain of the Chapel of S. Peter 
within the Abbey. There is a possible reference to the 
Chapel of S. Andrew in the Romsey psalter {circa 1440), 
for under 13th May occurs the entry " Dedicacio oratorii 
S. Andree Apli." Except in the case of confessions, for 
which special clergy were appointed, the nuns must have 
been dependent for all ordinary ministrations upon the 
Chaplains, as the Prebendaries held other offices and were 
usually non-resident. The only indication of a Prebendal 
House is found in connection with the third Prebendary or 
co-portionary of S. Laurence. After the death of Nicholas 
de Maydenstane the Bishop, on 29th December, 1326, 
caused his executors to be summoned and enquiries to be 
made concerning the dilapidations of the houses belonging 
to this Prebend, but even if the houses were at Romsey 
and not at Sydmanton, which was connected with this 
Prebend, the residence of the Prebendary is not certain. 

Royal Clerks and Diocesan Officials. 

Some of the incumbents of these Prebends were King's 
clerks, and were engaged in Court business. Solomon de 

1 William de P. and Robert de M. were Prebendaries about that date. 



130 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



Roffa (1289) may probably be identified with an itinerant 
Justice of that name, and if so he was involved in the 
Judicial scandal enquired into in 1290 when King Edward 
returned from abroad after a three years' absence. 

A full account of this business is given in the Red Book 
of the Exchequer : — " Ralph de Hingham and Solomon of 
Rochester (i.e., de Roffa) and others were arraigned for 
homicide, corruption, and extortion in office. At first 
they made a good defence, but at last, attacked in an 
unguarded quarter, they were convicted, and each in turn 
paid the heavy penalty of the Royal displeasure in the 
shape of exhorbitant fines." 

Peter de Galiciano (1333) was a Canon of Agen, as 
well as of Romsey, and was employed in the King's service 
beyond the seas in 1328, and in the next year he was com- 
manded by the King to treat with Lady Mary, ladye of 
Byscaye, and others, for marriage between John of Eltham, 
Earl of Cornwall, the King's brother, and Mary, daughter 
and heiress of John, formerly Lord of Bis-caye. This 
Peter was provided by the Pope to the Mastership of 
S. Cross Hospital, Winchester, 13th November, 1332, and 
according to an old manuscript was blind sometime before 
his death. He was alive 10th November, 1334, but must 
have died shortly afterwards. It is not likely that a Court 
official, and one holding S. Cross Hospital, troubled himself 
much about Romsey during his short incumbency. 

Other Prebendaries held Diocesan appointments, and 
some of them were great pluralists, holding many lucrative 
offices. Gilbert de Middleton became Prebendary of 
Edington in 13 12; he was, says Mr. Baigent, Canon of 
S. Paul's, London, and the Bishop's Vicar General, Rector 
of Ashbury, Berks, which he had resigned in 1308-9, Dean 
of the Court of Arches, 1312, and official principal to the 
Archbishop of Canterbury, Archdeacon of Northampton 



The Clergy. 



(8th June, 1316), and Prebendary of Wells, Chichester, 
Lincoln, Sales, Hereford, and of the Collegiate Church of 
S. Crantock, Cornwall. In 1327 he founded a perpetual 
chantry of six chaplains in the parish church of Wappen- 
ham, Northants, to celebrate mass daily for Edward I and 
Edward II, and for his own soul, and for the souls of his 
ancestors, benefactors, and all the faithful departed. Bishop 
William de Edyndon, to whom he was a benefactor and 
patron in youth, was not unmindful of him, in as much as 
he bequeathed 100 marks, or £66. 15s. 4d, for aid and 
augmentation of the chantry of Wappenham. Prebendary 
Gilbert de Middleton died December, 1330, and could have 
paid little attention either to Edyndon or Romsey. 

Robert de Stratford, his successor, voted at the election 
of Joan Icthe as Abbess, but it is significant that he voted 
by proxy. He was a kinsman of John de Stratford, Bishop 
of Winchester, and became himself Bishop of Chichester on 
30th November, 1337. In 1334 the Pope had made pro- 
vision for him to the Deanery of Wells, void by the 
consecration of Richard {i.e., R. Aungerville, of Bury) on 
19th December, 1333, to the Bishopric of Durham. 

The Incumbents of the Prebend of S. Laurence the 
Greater, Romsey, like those of Edyndon, were pluralists. 
James Synobalde of Florence became Canon on 14th 
November, 1304. In his register Bishop John de Pontoise 
uses the following expression : " te admittimus per pre- 
sentes te que per annulum nostrum presencialiter investi- 
mus " ; the use of the Bishop's ring is not mentioned in the 
appointment of any other canon of Romsey. He was 
collated to the Archdeaconry of Winchester, on 31st July, 
1304, and died before 1st May, 1325. He went to the 
Roman Court for the King in 13 16, and was Proctor in 
Convocation for the Bishop who was ill, 13 17- 18. He 
was Vicar-General in 1 320-1, and held for a time the 



132 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



rectories of Kemsing, Brightwell, Ivinghoe, and Ewell, and 
was Canon of Florence. 

His successor, Richard de Chaddesley, D.C.L., appointed 
4th April, 1325, was a Canon of Hereford in 1333, and also 
of Salisbury. He exchanged his Romsey Prebend with 
Peter de Galiciano in 1333, and examined and confirmed 
the appointment of Joan Icthe as Abbess in the absence 
of the Bishop in the same year. He is called both Vicar- 
General to the Archdeaconry and Bishop's Chancellor. 
The Patent Rolls show that he was incumbent of Kemeseye 
(Worcestershire), for in 1328, 28th December, protection 
was given him for one year, " and for his servants whom 
he is sending to Bristol with a boat laden with divers kinds 
of corn to fetch wines and other victuals for his household." 
From this document it appears that he was a "King's Clerk." 

Disputed Patronage. 

Whilst pluralism and non-residence tended to estrange 
the Prebendaries from the Convent, disputed rights of 
patronage may well have made the breach even wider. 
The Abbess and Convent were the true patrons, but special 
circumstances from time to time gave the patronage into 
other hands, the King or Pope claiming the right to 
present. Appointments made by King or Pope, if and 
when successful, may be supposed to have brought clergy 
into connection with the Abbey who had no knowledge of 
Romsey, and who would be unlikely to take much interest 
in the sisters. These claims to present do not appear to 
have been very successful, but they produced a good deal of 
confusion, and on one occasion at least a very complicated 
situation. For instance Geoffrey le Scrope, son of the 
Chief Justice of the King's Bench of that name, was 
inducted as Prebendary of S. Laurence the Greater in 
Romsey, 3rd July, 1335 ; but the King appears to have 



The Clergy. 



i33 



presented one of his clerks, John de Eccleslde or Eccleshall 
on 9th July in the same year, on the plea of a vacancy of 
the Abbey in the time of his grandfather, when, the Abbey 
being in the King's hands, the right of patronage fell to 
the Crown. The King's patent is duly entered in Bishop 
Orlton's register, but no account of an institution or induc- 
tion, if it was ever made, has survived, on the contrary, 
there is an elaborate confirmation of Geoffrey le Scrope's 
appointment under the date of 12th July. 

In 1346 the Pope made reservation of this Prebend for 
John Wawayn, Rector of Brannspath in the diocese of 
Durham, on its voidance by the consecration of William de 
Edyndon as Bishop of Winchester. John Wawayn, how- 
ever, died before obtaining possession. 

Much confusion arose at this time as to who possessed 
the Prebend. The Pope had made provision for the 
appointment of Andrew de Offerd or Ufford as far back 
as 1344, if not in 1343. According to one account, Andrew 
de Offerd claimed the Prebend on the death of Peter de 
Galiciano. Provision, however, did not mean possession, 
and several persons had in the meantime succeeded. 

In 1348 the Pope appears to have given the Prebend to 
William de Farlee or Farlegh, but in 1349 he is found 
making a decree at the request of the King validating 
the collation and provision made to Andrew de Offerd, 
and the latter presented to the vicarage in this year. 
William de Farlegh appears at the same date as Canon 
of Salisbury and Rector of Hurslee, and very possibly 
succeeded on Andrew de Offerd's death, the date of which 
is unknown. This is likely because Walter de Sevenhamp- 
ton, who was appointed Prebendary in 1362, obtained 
Papal confirmation in 1363, and his collation is spoken of 
as taking place on the death of William de Farlegh. 



134 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



In this document the old dispute about the patronage 
is referred to, and a reference is made to a suit between 
William and Andrew de OfTerd, and to a doubt having 
arisen whether the new appointment was not in conse- 
quence reserved to the Pope, on account of which Walter 
de Sevenhampton, to secure himself, obtained Royal con- 
firmation. This Walter, it may be worth observing, had 
been Warden of the Edyndon Chantry for a year, 1357-58, 
and had in 1370 exchanged the benefice of Old Alresford 
(worth 6s. Sd.) with John Turke for that of Michel- 
mersh, resigning about the same time the Church of 
S. Martin, Winchester. 

A similar case of Papal provision and confusion arose 
in the case of the Edyndon Prebend. In 1337 John de 
S. Paul was appointed, in the next year he exchanged his 
Prebend with Gilbert de Bruera for Canonries and Pre- 
bends of York and Lichfield, and afterwards exchanged 
that of Lichfield and the Church of Sutton in the Diocese 
of Salisbury with Alan de Conyngesburghe for the Pro- 
vosty of Wells. In the meantime the Pope had made 
provision of Edyndon to Robert de Turre de Adria, a 
Papal writer, on the ground that the last Prebendary, 
Robert de Stratford, was a Papal Chaplain. This gordian 
knot was cut by the decease of the Papal writer, and the 
Pope permitted the various appointments to stand. 

This settlement took place in 1344, and Gilbert con- 
tinued until his resignation in 135 1, when John de Edyndon, 
nephew of William de Edyndon, Bishop of Winchester, 
was appointed. He held the Prebend for a few months 
only, from 4th June to 29th October, when he resigned. 
This John was made Master of S. Cross in 1346, was 
Rector of Cheriton in 1347, and Rector of Farnham, and 
held a Prebend of Saint Pauls in 1366. The Bishop can 
hardly have approved of his nephew, a mere lad who mis- 



The Clergy. 



135 



used the funds of Saint Cross and was compelled to resign 
by William of Wykeham, soon after he became Bishop in 
1368. John was cited to appear in the Bishop's Court for 
having embezzled the materials purchased by his pre- 
decessor for rebuilding the chancel of the Church of 
Farnham, of which he was then Rector. No more appoint- 
ments were made to Edyndon by the Abbess and Convent, 
as Bishop William de Edyndon of Winchester founded a 
chantry there and became patron. The Wardens of this 
chantry and their successors, however, continued to take 
their place as Canons in the Romsey Chapter, for Master 
William Newton is found taking part in the election of 
Elizabeth Broke as Abbess in 1478. 

The Third or Co-portionary Prebend. 

The co-portionary Prebend of S. Laurence ceased to 
exist about the same time that the patronage of Edyndon 
passed to the Bishop. Only four names have survived of 
incumbents of this Prebend, the succession is complete for 
the period, but only extends from about 1297 to 1 35 1 
or 1362. 

About 1297, Robert de Maydenstane was Prebendary, 
he also held the Vicarage of Michelmersh, to which he was 
appointed in 1286 on the resignation of Simon de Nigella, 
and was besides a Canon of Chichester. Under the con- 
stitution of Pope John XII, against pluralities, he was 
removed from Michelmersh 12th February, 13 17. He is 
described as " late Master of S. Cross " on 9th February, 
1 32 1, and he with his brother Nicholas are proceeded 
against for removing property from the Hospital valued at 
£100. This brother, Nicholas de Maydenstane, became 
Prebendary of Romsey before 1321, when he presented 
to the Vicarage as co-patron with James de Florencia, 
Prebendary of S. Laurence the Greater. 



136 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



Richard de Lusteshulle followed, and remained Pre- 
bendary for nearly twenty -five years, an incumbency 
exceeding in length that of any of the early Prebendaries. 
He was ordained Deacon 28th May, 13 17, and Priest on 
24th September following, and was Rector of Elyndone, 
Wilts, and collated by the Pope to Romsey in 1325. 

At the request of the King, the Pope wishing to 
promote Sir Richard de Lusteshulle, confers on him the 
prebendal portion of S. Laurence, without cure, in the 
conventual church of Romsey, and invests him in the 
person of Peter de Nuttelye his Proctor. Dated at 
Coulesfield, Thursday, 15th August, 1325. 

The register of Bishop Stratford, however, records 
another appointment ; one Richard de Ayremine was 
admitted by the Bishop's commissioners to the Prebend 
of S. Laurence, at the presentation of the Abbess and 
Convent, and the induction took place the same day, but 
by proxy. The institution was sealed with the seal of the 
Dean of Winchester because the seals of the commissioners 
were unknown to many. Dated 25th August, 1325. The 
subsequent events are explained by the abstracts of 
documents in the Cathedral Chartulary, 1 which are as 
follows : — 

" Bulla domini pape directa priori Wyntonensi H. de Iddes- 
worth et magistro Nicholao de Fractis ad faciendum dominum 
R. de Lusteshulle de pacifica possessione prebende de Romeseye 
gaudere. 

" The petition of Richard de Lusteshull, canon of the church 
of the monastery of Romesey, in which are and used to be secular 
canons, contains that although he was canonically promoted to 
the prebend of S. Laurence, accustomed to be assigned to secular 
clerks, then vacant by the death of Nicholas de Madeneston, by 
authority of apostolic letters, and has for some time peacefully 

1 Winchester Cathedral Chartulary, Vol. I, Pt. i. 



The Clergy. 



i37 



possessed it, nevertheless, because Richard de Ermyne clerk of 
the Diocese of York falsely asserting the said prebend to be 
vacant, has caused himself to be presented to the bishop of 
Winchester for the said prebend, vacant neither by right or in 
fact, by the Abbess and Convent to whom the presentation, when 
it is vacant, is known to belong by old, approved, and hitherto 
peacefully observed custom, and on pretext of this presentation 
he has hindered, disturbed and molested Richard de Lusteshull 
in his possession of the prebend, and Richard appeals to the 
apostolic see. The pope has committed the cause to Master 
Gaucelin de Cassanhis [Gashanchis] 'auditori causarum nostri 
pallacii,' to hear and determine, who at the instance of a former 
Master de Vrigge, proctor of Richard, appearing before him, 
pronounced the case to have properly devolved on the Apostolic 
court and caused the said Richard de Ermyne to be cited. He 
did not appear. Pronounced and declared that the presentation 
of Richard de Ermyne was void. Confirmation by the Pope, of 
this sentence; Richard de Lusteshull shall enjoy the peaceful 
possession of the prebend. Dated at Avinon 12 Kal. January, 
1 3th year of his pontificate (Pope John)." 

Order for Induction. — "Nicholas de Fractis, and others, 
deputies from the Apostolic see, to the Abbess and Convent of 
Romsey and all others concerned. They are to induct Richard 
de Lusteshull into possession of the said canonry or prebend of 
S. Laurence within six days, and in no wise permit him to be 
molested in the same; Richard de Ermyne is admonished that 
this will take place. Sentence of excommunication on each 
person, suspension of the Convent, and interdict on the Church, 
if they hinder Richard de Lusteshull or help Richard de Ermyne. 
Richard de Lusteshull or his proctor shall make a copy of the 
premisses for the Convent, if they demand it, at their charges. 

"The Abbots of Nettele, Beaulieu, the Priors of Suthewyk, 
Portesmuthe, and Motesfonte, the Master of the Domus Dei of 
Southampton, the Prior of ' Ederosi ' in the diocese of Salisbury, 
the rectors of the churches of 'Albae parochie,' Schyrefeld, 
Tederle, and Putlesworth, the Priors of S. Ellen and of S. Cross 



138 



Records of Romsey Abbey. 



of Winchester, shall carry out the premisses under pain of excom- 
munication, within six days after they shall be required to do so. 

" 'Acta et data' in Avinon, in the dwelling-house of the said 
Nicholas, 1329, 10th February, thirteenth year of Pontificate of 
John XXII." 

The trouble about the house dilapidations has already 
been referred to. A curious transaction occurred between 
this Prebendary and the Prior of Saint Swithun's about the 
year 1 33 1. It appears that Richard de Lusteshull's Rectory 
of Elyndone paid a pension of 100 shillings to Saint 
Swithun's for the benefit of the Precentor. To meet this 
charge Prebendary Richard delivers to the Prior Alexander 
the fruits of his " portion of Sydemanton " belonging to his 
Romsey prebend, and the rent of the house, namely, 3 
shillings a year ; the whole value amounting to 8 marks 
3 shillings, or £$. gs. Sd. {i.e., present value £6$. 16s.). He 
warrants the said fruits and house for five years, if he 
continues to hold the Prebend. Brother Alexander shall 
retain to himself and his convent and pay to the Precentor 
100 shillings yearly during the said five years, of the said 
farm of 8 marks 3 shillings and the residue, namely, gs. 8d., 
he shall pay to the said Richard at Michaelmas yearly in 
the Church of Saint Swithun. For a very brief period this 
Prebendary was Master of Saint Cross, and was also 
Warden of Saint Katherine's Hospital, near the Tower. 
He presented to the Vicarage in 1334, and probably died 
by the great pestilence in the early part of 1349, his 
successor being instituted on 27th June of that year. 

John de Nubbelaye was the last incumbent of this 
Prebend. He obtained it on Papal provision, confirmed 
by the Crown, on 12th May, and was instituted on 27th 
June ; he presented to the Vicarage on 27th September 
following. He had been Rector of Alresford for some 
years. Bishop William de Edyndon shortly afterwards 



The Clergy. 



i39 



(8th July, 1 351), with the Royal assent, appropriated this 
Prebend to the use of the Abbey, owing to the poverty and 
sufferings of the Nuns consequent on the black death. 
Part of the agreement involved a pension to the Bishopric, 
which in Bishop Wykeham's time fell into arrears, and 
a peremptory command for payment was issued. This 
pension became a subject of enquiry after the suppression. 
The Bishop of Winchester and his predecessors it was 
stated had continually enjoyed a sum of 6s. Sd. going out 
of the late House or Monastery of Romsey for the appro- 
priation of the Prebend of S. Laurence ; it was decreed on 
6th February, 1 541, that unless proved before the Court of 
Augmentations, the Bishop ought not to have it. 

John de Nubbelaye became Provost of S. Elizabeth's 
College, Winchester, in 1350. The appointment of a 
pluralist was contrary to the statutes of the College, but 
the Papal sanction was granted owing to the income of 
S. Elizabeth's being too small to be held by itself. He 
appears to have died 3rd September, 1362, for the Bishop 
on 29th October of that year issued letters patent for the 
augmentation of the stipends of the Chaplains and Clerks 
for John de Nubbelaye's obit : — 

" The Provost and Chaplains shall celebrate yearly for ever on 
3rd September in the Chapel the obit or anniversary of John de 
Nubbelaye, formerly Provost of the Chapel, who gave many goods 
in his lifetime to the relief of the said Chapel ; and on the same 
day the Provost shall distribute one mark of silver for the good of 
the soul and in memory of John de Nubbelaye, viz., first in 
masses to be celebrated for his soul and the souls of all the 
faithful departed by Chaplains of the town of Winchester and 
Soke, as well religious and secular, $s. ; in wax to be bought for 
four candles to be placed round his tomb, 3s. 4^. ; in a pittance 
to the Chaplains and Clerks of the Chapel, $s. ^d. ; distribution 
amongst the choristers of the Chapel singing on that day, 2od." 



140 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



The only Prebend which remained according to the 
terms of its first foundation, was the major portion of 
S. Laurence ; Adam de Hertyngdon was appointed in 
1374, and was followed by Nicholas de Wykeham, a kins- 
man of the great Bishop of that name. He was ordained 
Acolyth in 1379 and Priest in 1383, and he as Patron 
presented to the Vicarage of Romsey in 1380; in 1388 he 
was Master of the Hospital of S. Nicholas, Portsmouth, 
Prebendary of Waleton in the Collegiate Church of 
Boseham, of Bedewynde in S. Mary's, Sarum, and of 
Thorpe in the Collegiate Church of Howeden, as well as 
Prebendary of Romsey. He was Archdeacon of Wilts in 
1396. 

Very little remains to be told of the Canons. John 
Bailey, who exchanged the Rectory of Saint Laurence, 
Winchester, for the Vicarage of Saint Laurence, Romsey, 
in 1452, became also Prebendary, either then or a little 
later. Nicholas Delburge was Prebendary at the Suppres- 
sion. A note in the Account of the King's Bailiff of the 
dissolved Monastery in 1539, says : " That the issues of the 
Prebends of Tymmesbury, Ymber and Romsey, lately 
granted to Brother Nicholas, travelling in Italy, are to be 
answered for by Richard Lyster (who dwelt at Stanbridge) 
and G. Baynton, Knights, and Francis Flemmynge, Esquire, 
assessed at £16. 6s. 8d. by the year, which Prebends are 
granted by letters patent to ... . Mason {i.e., John Mason, 
appointed 1540). 

A later patron was Thomas Sharpe of Craneborne, 
Kent, who put in Edward Foster, a relative probably of 
the Foster who did so much to bring about the suppres- 
sion of the Abbey, as will be shown later. The rectory 
eventually came into the hands of the Dean and Chapter 
of Winchester. 



The Clergy. 



141 



Romsey could not complain of having insignificant 
persons thrust upon it, to fill the offices of secular Canons, 
but it may be doubted if these persons, so frequently 
employed at the Court by the Sovereign or in Diocesan 
work by the Bishop, were of much use to the Sisters of the 
Convent, more often than not they must have been non- 
resident, and the celebration of Divine Worship was carried 
on by resident Vicars for the Parish, and by Chaplains for 
the Convent. 

Very little information is available about the Vicars 
and Chaplains, but notes about some of them are in- 
corporated into other chapters, when their names occur. 



REFERENCES. 

The Edington Register, B.M., Lansdowne, No. 442. 

Hutchin's Dorset. 

Leland's Itinerary. 

Winchester Episcopal Registers. 

Papal Letters and Registers [Record Commission]. 

Patent Rolls. 

Winchester Cathedral Chartulary. 



CHAPTER IX. 



A.D. I349— 1352. 

EDINGTON AND IMBER. 



" Hedinton, in Wilts, of ancient tyme was 
a prebend longging to Rumsey, an Abbaye of 
Nunnes in Hampshire." 

Leland's Itinerary, Vol. IV, 25. 



Chapter IX. 



EDINGTON AND IMBER. 

HE Black Death left a legacy of troubles behind it, 



and these troubles were acutely felt throughout the 
country. Agriculture suffered severely, land went out of 
cultivation, and cattle wandered untended. Tenants could 
not be found to occupy farms, and labour was at a 
premium. The Statute of Labourers was passed with 
a view to check the high rate of wages and to confine 
natives to their own part of the country ; but it did not 
meet with unqualified success. The Monasteries, inasmuch 
as they were great landowners, fell into extreme poverty. 
" It would appear " says Abbot Gasquet, " that at this time 
many, if not most, of the religious houses of the Diocese 
of Winchester were protected and supported by the 
liberality of Bishop Edyndon and his relatives, whom he 
interested in the work of preserving from threatened des- 
truction these monastic establishments." Romsey history 
illustrates the evil plight of the religious houses, and 
exhibits the paternal care of Bishop Edyndon. There are 
many documents, enrolled on the Close Roll of 1354, in 
which the state of the Convent's finance, and the agree- 
ments entered into between the Abbess and the Bishop, 
are described. The wording of the first document, dated 
1 35 1, is almost identical, in its commencement, with a 
similar one relating to S. Mary's, Winchester. 




L 



146 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



Charter of the Abbess and Convent to 
Bishop William de Edyndon. 

He, the Bishop, counted it a pleasing thing mercifully to come 
to their assistance when overwhelmed with poverty, and when, in 
these days of increasing ill-doing and social deterioration, they 
were brought to the necessity of secret begging. 

It was at such a time that the same Father, with the eye of 
compassion, seeing that our Monastery was from the first provided 
with lands and possessions, but that now we and our house {by 
the barreness of our land and the destruction of our woods, by the 
diminution or loss of due and appointed rents, because of the 
dearth of tenants carried off by the unheard of and unwonted 
pestilence, by the building and repairs of the houses of the 
Monastery fallen through age and in ruins, by necessary and very 
costly exactions of tenths and other taxes and unsupportable 
burdens) are depressed by the burden of poverty and misery, 
to so great a degree, that its means would not suffice for the 
sustenance of the religious women dwelling therein even on a 
reduced scale, perceived that unless provision were opportunely 
made by a remedial measure of help, in our need which we now 
suffer, this our Monastery would fall under the reproach of 
irreparable desolation. 

The same Father perceiving this, and the fervour of his 
inward charity (by which from early years he was always warmly 
disposed, with no little devotion, towards our Monastery) now 
also stirring him, he by the care of his pastoral sympathy, to 
which we are notoriously indebted, as well as to the affection of 
his paternal oversight, annexed, incorporated, and united, with 
the consent of his Chapter, to our proper use for a perpetual 
possession the Prebend of St. Laurence in our Church of 
Romsey (which hitherto Sir John de Nubbelye holds, and which 
is of our patronage), with all its rights and belongings, for the 
relief of our burdens. And further for the right of patronage or 
advowson of the Prebendal Church of Edyndon, belonging to 
our Church of Romsey, with the Chapel of Bradley annexed to 
the said Prebendal Church, in the Diocese of Salisbury, and for 



Edington and Imber. 



147 



one messuage and two acres of land in Edyngdon, which we were 
accustomed to consider of little or no value, given by us to the 
said Father and his heirs and assigns, for the purpose of a 
Chantry of Chaplains, celebrating for ever in the said Prebendal 
Church, to be founded and endowed by the said Father — he gave 
us the tenements, messuages, lands, rents, and meadows formerly 
in the possession of John le Rede and others in the town of 
Romeseye, near to our Monastery and of great use to us, which 
he had acquired at great cost, together with other things, as 
appears by the King's Charter, treating thereof. 

Our evident insufficiency considered, we are not able to make 
any worthy temporal return for such immense and gracious 
benefits ; and considering moreover that it is more acceptable to 
the said Father, who has brought such great relief to our exceed- 
ing desolation and has restored or reformed our Monastery, to 
reap eternal retribution rather than the reward of transitory 
praise, we grant that he participate in all prayer and good offices 
made in our Monastery for ever. We grant, further, that one of 
the Chaplains of our Monastery, every year on the Feast of 
St. James, the Apostle, in our conventual church, the Abbess and 
Convent being present, shall be bound to celebrate solemnly, with 
note, the Mass " Salus populi" for the welfare of the said Father 
during his life on earth, singing the collect " Omnipotens sempiterne 
Deus Qui vivorum et mortuorum " and other collects for the living 
as shall seem most fitting. After the said Father's death, every 
year on his anniversary as the day comes round, the Abbess and 
Convent shall sing, before Vespers in the Monastery, the office of 
the dead, namely, Placebo and Dirige, and on the morrow they 
shall cause to be solemnly celebrated in presence of all of the 
Convent who can attend, a Requiem Mass for his soul, and the 
soul of King Edward when he shall have departed this life, his 
progenitors, kings of England, and all the faithful departed, with 
the collect "Incline Domine aurem Tuani" another which begins 
"Deus Qui inter apostolicos" and others fitting; moreover that 
we and our successors may be incited more eagerly and in greater 
number to be present at the said office and masses, we grant that 
on the days on which Mass for the living and also for the dead 



148 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



and the anniversary shall be celebrated, the Abbess shall dis- 
tribute among the religious ladies of the Monastery who are 
present or who are hindered from attending by sufficient cause, 
ten marks sterling of the profits of the said lands given to us 
by the said Father; and to each Chaplain celebrating in our 
Monastery, presented by the holder of the Prebendal Church of 
Edyngdon, the Abbess shall pay from the said profits, which we 
confess to be more than sufficient for all these purposes, a yearly 
payment of thirteen shillings and four pence for his stipend 
(which, according to the custom of our Monastery, has been paid 
hitherto by the holder of the said Prebendal Church), and livery 
of victuals as of one nun, for the fitting sustenance of the said 
Chaplain as has been customary, in relief of the accustomed 
charge of the Monastery in this matter, and so that the holder of 
the said church may be wholly exonerated from the yearly 
payment of thirteen shillings and four pence. 

If we, or our successors, do not carry out the foregoing, which 
God forbid, we will that the Bishop of Winchester for the time 
being may compel us to carry out the same by ecclesiastical 
censures, and we expressly renounce any appeal or defence on our 
part : and if we take away or do not fully carry out any part of 
the foregoing, we grant that we may be bound to pay to the alms 
of the Bishop one hundred shillings, and in aid of the Holy Land 
forty shillings sterling, the foregoing to continue in force never- 
theless. We bind ourselves, and our successors, to carry out and 
observe faithfully all the aforesaid, on pain of distraint of our 
Monastery and all our goods by the Bishop and any other judge, 
ecclesiastical or secular. In testimony of all which, we have 
caused our common seal to be affixed to these. Given in our 
Chapter House, 8th July, 1351. 

The Abbess also made grants to John de Edyndon, the 
Bishop's nephew, and gave him power to make a grant to 
the warden and chaplains of the newly founded chantry ; 
and her successor, Isabel de Camoys, gave a piece of land 
for the enlargement of the churchyard. The new rector 
Walter Scarlet, was instituted on October 28th, 1351, and 



Edington and Imber. 



149 



Canon John de Edyndon's resignation is dated the follow- 
ing day. 

The Papal confirmation is dated 1354, and sums up the 
whole matter ; it confirms the foundation, by William, 
Bishop of Winchester, in the church of Edyndon, in the 
diocese of Salisbury, his birth-place (which is a prebend of 
Romsey and consequently neglected), of a chantry of three 
chaplains in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary, S. 
Katherine, and All Saints, to whom the church is dedicated, 
with the consent of Robert Wyville, Bishop of Salisbury, 
the chapters of Winchester and Salisbury, John of Edyndon, 
Canon of Romsey, and the Convent of Romsey. It being 
ordained that one only of the chaplains shall be perpetual, 
and should be called the warden ; and also confirming the 
subsequent appropriation, made with the consent of the 
same persons and of Roger, Archdeacon of Salisbury, of 
the church of Edyndon to the said chantry, and the 
appointment of three more chaplains. It incorporates a 
letter of the Bishop dated 20th October, 1 35 1, in which he 
speaks of founding the chantry to pray for the souls of 
himself, his father Roger, his mother Amice, his brother 
John, the royal family of England, and the Bishops of 
Salisbury and Winchester. 

A new and very beautiful church was built by the 
Bishop in the transitional style from Decorated to Perpen- 
dicular, and the work may be compared with that done by 
him at the west end of Winchester Cathedral. There is 
a base of late Norman character incorporated in the west 
respond of the south arcade, which indicates both the style 
and position of the ancient church. 

Leland says that the first stone of the Monastery was 
laid on the 3rd of July, 1352, and that it was completed six 
years later. The consecration of the church by Robert 
Wyville, Bishop of Salisbury, did not take place till 1 361, 



150 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



and changes had come about in the meanwhile. Walter 
de Sevenhampton had become warden on the last day of 
February, 1357-8, and had resigned 5th April, 1358; and 
on the next day John de Ailesbury had been appointed. 
Edward the Black Prince had, it seems, an especial favour 
for a particular class of Augustinian monks, known as 
Bonshommes, of which there was only one establishment 
in England, z>zk, at Ashridge in Buckinghamshire ; and on 
his return from the French wars " heartily," as Leland says, 
" besought the Bishop to introduce this order at Edington, 
which was accordingly done." Two members were sent 
from Ashridge to Edington, and the elder of them, John de 
Ailesbury, became its first head, the warden resigning, but 
the priests all taking the new order. The House continued 
till the suppression of the Monasteries, and received many 
gifts, as may be seen in the beautiful register which now 
stands on the shelves of the B.M. Library, Lansd. 442. 

The church is in excellent preservation. It is cruciform, 
and a very beautiful screen still separates the chancel, 
which was reserved for the use of the canons, from the rest 
of the building, which was used as the parish church. 

It must not be supposed that because Romsey Abbey 
parted with the advowson of Edington all the Convent's 
interest in the neighbourhood ceased. This was by no 
means the case ; the Abbess remained Lady of the Manor 
of the whole Hundred of Wharwellesdown, she still held 
property in the neighbourhood, and continued as the 
patron of Steeple Ashton, another village some three or 
four miles north of Edington. This Lordship had been 
given to the Abbey by Edgar from the first, and the gift 
had been confirmed by King John ; and it would seem 
that land both in Edington and Steeple Ashton came to 
the Convent through the same king. 



Edington and Imber. 



The Edington Charter is still extant, and so is that of 
Steeple Ashton ; the latter concludes with one of those 
strange denunciations often attached to charters of that 
time : " If anyone shall venture rashly to infringe this my 
grant, and refuse to make satisfaction, let him be dragged 
down with heavy chains round his neck among the fire- 
breathing regions of black devils." 

The boundaries of Ashton follow ; the general line 
pursues a course " From Semington round by Keevil and 
Edyndon to the River Biss, then by Merebrook and South- 
wick (in North Bradley) across to Trowbridge, Hilperton 
Moor, and back to Semington. The Manor of Edington 
included the tithings of West Coulston, Baynton, Tinhead, 
North Bradley, and Southwick. The whole Hundred at 
the time of the Norman Conquest was under the Abbess' 
rule, and seventy hides of land or more were the property 
of Romsey Abbey, which probably represented the two 
manors of Edendone and Aistone. 

An early Court Roll of the Manor of Assheton, i.e., 
Steeple Ashton, has survived the destruction of the Abbey 
MSS. And as the preservation of such early rolls is 
uncommon, it will be worth while giving extracts from it : 

An arrear Hundred Court of St. Martin held on Wednesday, 
on the morrow of St. Nicholas, in the forty-sixth year of the reign 
of King Henry [i.e., Jth December, 1261.] 

Richard de Tiddolneside complains of Walter Walerand that 
he, Walter, made an agreement with the said Richard, on Sunday 
next before the feast of St. Michael, in the forty-fifth year of the 
reign of King Henry, about the first hour, in the Court of the 
Abbess of Romsey at Tiddolneside, that the same Walter should 
pay (render) to Richard, by judgment of trusty (men), all costs 
which Richard laid out upon the building of houses upon the 
tenement, of which he placed the said Walter in possession, by 
the Abbess, before the feast of St. Denis next following; which 



152 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



he (Walter) did not do, but has hitherto unjustly withheld; 
although the said Richard found pledges, namely, Ric Sonwini 
and William Notchaach [wherefrom he did not wish damage or 
disgrace] for 40^., and this he says by sufficient suit. 

Afterwards, it is agreed between them that Walter grant, that, 
unless he pay half of the value of the said costs on the feast of the 
Purification of the Blessed Mary, in the forty-sixth year of the 
reign of King Henry, and the other half at Easter following, 
the said Richard shall hold, at farm, all the houses and the whole 
tenement pertaining thereto of the same Walter, for so long a time 
as the estimators shall estimate by writing the said land to be 
worth the money, estimated for the costs of the houses, which 
estimate ought to be made on Sunday next after the feast of St. 
Nicholas ; and afterwards it (i.e., the said land) shall revert to the 
said Walter. 

Hallemote of Aston on Monday, the eve of St. Nicholas, in the 
forty-sixth year of the reign of King Henry \_5th December, 7261.] 

John Medicus (the doctor) in mercy for grass destroyed by 
four cows taken in New Croft. 

Arrear Hundred Court at Hocktide on the Friday next before 
the feast of St. Barnabas the Apostle, in the forty-sixth year of the 
reign of King Henry [pth fane, 1262]. 

Richard Horde, tithing-man of Bradely, comes and says that 
the house of Lucy Hogeman was broken into on the night of 
Tuesday next after the feast of St. John before the Latin Gate, 
and there was taken away a coverlet, a linen garment, a sheet and 
a towel, bread and corn ; asked if he had anyone under suspicion, 
he said no ! and on the night of Thursday in the week of 
Whitsuntide a beehive belonging to Duca, widow of Richard the 
Miller, was stolen, and he made mention as to the house of Hugh 
Bokel, which was burnt and he within. 

William, the tything-man of West Ashton, comes and says that 
William de Southwich was very often received at the house of 
Christina Walcock on the tenement of Roger Agard ; made 
mention of the fire at Bradeley, and of wool plucked from the 



Edington and Imber. 



153 



sheep of Juliana Sanser, and of three large fleeces of wool, stolen 
in the bakehouse of John Scheregrove (Shiregreen), and made 
mention of a medley between Elias, son of Ric He, and Walter, 
son of Walter the Theign, on the day of the Holy Trinity after 
dinner, whence the hue was raised. The same William blamed 
for including Hugh le due within his tything, he denied, therefore 
let him make his law. 

Walter Nele is made tithing-man, and says that the chest of 
Emma de Aqua (i.e., Waters) was broken, and her goods were 
carried off in(to) the courtyard of Adam Doget ; and makes 
mention of a coffer broken into, in the house of Duca de Aqua, 
and a bushel of wheat taken away; asked if they had any in 
suspicion they say no ! Nothing more. 

The relations between the Abbess and Convent and the 
Rector and brothers of Edyndon do not appear to have 
run smoothly. Towards the close of the incumbency of 
John de Aylesbury, in 1377, certain grievances were set 
out on the behalf of the Abbess and Convent, and are to 
be found amongst the Ecclesiastical documents of the 
Exchequer Q. R. The grievances are twenty-one in 
number. For instance, the Abbess and her predecessors 
had, time out of mind, the right of feed and pasture in 
Owaynesmede after the first mowing and carrying, namely, 
from the Feast of S. Peter ad Vincula to the Feast of 
the Purification of the Blessed Mary (1st August — 2nd 
February). But the Rector for three years had hindered 
this. 

Again, the Rector and John Horton, a brother, had 
carried off Margery, daughter of William Blacche, native 
of the Lady. That is to say they no doubt claimed a 
right over one of the servile tenants of the Lady Abbess. 

Again, the Rector and brothers had hunted in the free 
warren of the Abbess at Edyndon, and had taken and 
carried off hares and rabbits ; also they had cut down and 



154 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



carried off an elrn, growing upon the waste ground of the 
Abbess at Tynhide, and had done the same with thorns, 
growing on the tenures of William Sampson, John Gay, 
William Blacche, and John Preest, native or servile tenants 
of the Abbey, at Northbroke. Further, the Rector's 
servants had grazed the pasture of the Lady at Lande- 
mereswey, Liteldrove to Viltham and Ridendiche. Also 
they held a gate towards the village of Tynhide, where 
from ancient time there never was a road, by which the 
Rector's swine wasted the corn and pasture of the Lady ; 
they had cleaned out the ditch of the Rector's close next 
Inmede and cast the mud upon the Lady's meadow. 
They had given trouble, too, about cattle, rents, and other 
matters, and it is evident that the Abbey Steward, 1 William 
de Putton, and Thomas atte Forde, the bailiff, must have 
had an anxious time. 

Edington and Ashton were not the only properties in 
which Romsey had an interest in this neighbourhood. 
The road from Westbury to Edington skirts along and 
beneath a chalk down or plateau which at the latter place 
rises 600 to 700 feet above sea level, and nearly 400 feet 
above the roadway, and looks over a broad vale towards 
Roundway Hill and the Marlborough Downs, with Devizes 
and Potterne in the middle distance. Just before reaching 
Edington, one of the celebrated white horses, cut out on 
the side of the down, is seen, and at Edington a step path 
leads to the top of the down. On the farther side of the 
village the down may be climbed by a road which passes 
up through a steep cutting, great nodular masses of chalk 
crowning the cliff above, on the western side. The road 
emerges on the down, a wide expanse of country partly 
cultivated, which extends for miles and is connected in an 
easterly direction with Salisbury Plain. 

1 William de Putton or Pytton held land at Stanbridge, in Romsey. — Vide 
B.M. Add. Charters. 



Edington and Imber. 



155 



Soon after leaving a farmhouse just above Edington, 
the road ceases, and a traveller must proceed across the 
turf as best he may. About four miles from Edington, in 
a fold or depression of the down, he will come upon the 
ancient village of Imber : — 

" Imber in the down, 
Four miles from any town," 

according to a saying of the countryside. This is literally 
true, and the village is further cut off by an absence of 
roads ; on the opposite side to Edington a road runs for 
some distance out of the village but ends on the open 
down ; here, however, heaps of white chalk guide the 
traveller, and perhaps the native, in foggy weather, to 
Tilshead, or Tidulveshide, as it was anciently called. 

The name Immere (now Imber) seems to have been 
originally " Gemser," i.e., junction, union, or boundary, the 
village being parcelled out between the two hundreds of 
Ruberg Regis and Heghtrebury (Heytesbury). This village 
was formerly divided into Imber North and Imber South ; 
the latter, comprising about two thirds of the parish, 
belonged to Romsey Abbey and the family of Le Rous, 
the former and lesser portion to the Le Rous family only. 
The Abbey held the advowson of the church, and presented 
the prebendary of S. Laurence to it, on each occasion. 
The Le Rous family appear to have presented to the living 
from about the year 13 16, and perhaps earlier, though the 
Abbess claimed the right as against them in 1344. Mr. 
Hoare says : " The Abbess of Romsey frequently claimed 
the right of presentation to this chapel as part of the 
prebend of Timbresbury in that Abbey, but Le Rous 
generally succeeded as lord of the manor and founder." 

A description of the church is given by Mr. C. E. 
Ponting, F.S.A., in the Wiltshire Archaeological Magazine. 
The church consists of a nave, with north and south aisles, 



156 Records of Romsey Abbey. 

a chancel, and western tower ; the font is to be dated about 
the middle of the twelfth century, and belonged to the 
older Norman church. At the end of the thirteenth 
century the church was rebuilt, and in the fifteenth century, 
not later than 1420, the north and south aisles were rebuilt, 
and the north porch and tower were added, and the nave 
was re- roofed in waggon-headed form. "This fifteenth 
century work," says Mr. Ponting, " is bold and massive, 
and it must have been no slight task in those days to get 
up to Imber the large quoin and bonding stones. Owing 
to the peculiar treatment of the turret staircase the tower 
has five corners." It is thought that the knight in the 
recessed tomb may have been a benefactor at this time, 
but the style of the effigy points to an earlier date ; the 
arms on the shield belong to the Le Rous family. 

This family may be traced back to a Richard, one of 
the King's Chamberlains, mentioned in 1 167-8. To pro- 
bably the same Richard, Henry II made grants, and in 
1 183 the Abbess, Juliana, gave a Charter relating to a 
farm. From this Richard the property, and his place in 
the King's camera, descended to another Richard, his 
nephew (nepos) son of Roger, and to Thomas, another 
nephew, both mentioned in 1202-3 ; and as Richard is 
mentioned in the Red book of the Exchequer in 1 201-12, 
and Thomas son of Roger as holding by serjeanty in 
12 12-17, it is possible that this Thomas succeeded his 
brother Richard. A John appears in a deed, in the 
Edington Register, of 1241, and in the Testa de Nevill 
(the same or his son is found in the Patent Rolls, 1279-80), 
and a Matilda in the Hundred Rolls of 1275. 

After this date the succession of the ancient family is 
fairly clear. Sir Thomas in the Parliamentary Writs of 
1277 acknowledges that he owes the service of one 
" Serviens," armed with a haubergeon, an aketon, and a 



Edington and Imber. 



157 



scull cap, and proffers himself by Walter Danesy on his 
behalf. This was for the expedition against Lewelin, 
Prince of Wales, and the muster was at Worcester on 
1st July, and again at Carmarthen on 15th July. He 
makes the same proposal on 2nd August, 1282. He 
appears as a witness to a deed of Alice, Abbess of Romsey 
1280-1, and is referred to as a Justice in the Close Roll 
of 1289, and in the next year occurs the entry that a 
Coroner is to be elected, he being incapacitated by weak- 
ness. He died shortly afterwards in 1 290-1 and his son 
John succeeded. 

The latter's name occurs for military service against the 
Scots in 1 301, and he acknowledges and proffers the service 
of one serjeanty, performed by one " Serviens " with one 
unbarded horse, against the Scots in 13 10; in the next 
year he is knight of the shire for Wilts, and obtains his 
writ for expenses for attendance in Parliament ; in 13 15 he 
obtains a writ of exoneration, having performed his service 
against the Scots; in 13 16 he is certified as Lord of the 
Manor of Imber and of Leigh in Wilts ; in 1320 he is 
appointed collector of scutage in the county, and two years 
later (1322) he is Commissioner of Array, being empowered 
to raise an additional number of troops ; he is returned by 
the Sheriff as summoned, by general proclamation, to 
attend the great council at Westminster on Wednesday 
next after Ascension Day, 30th May, 1324. In 1313 he 
gave a release to the Abbey of his right to present two 
nuns to be veiled there with a valet [servant] to be main- 
tained there. He presented John de Immere, probably a 
relative, to Imber in 1325, and made several presentations 
to the same place in 1325 and 1326. He died 1329-31. 

A case was brought into Court at Easter, 1332, by Ric. 
de Walop against Ela, widow of this John le Rous, as to 
one acre at Couveleston. Ela, by her attorney, says she 



i 5 8 



Records of Romsey Abbey. 



holds the land as dower from John, once her husband, with 
reversion to John, son of John le Rous, of Inmere. On 
26th October, 1340, a pardon was granted to Thomas 
de Langford and Ela, late the wife of John le Rous, tenant- 
in-chief, for intermarriage without license ; they were fined 
five marks. 

Sir John succeeded his father, and presents Richard le 
Rous to the chapel of Imber in 1339. On 19th October, 

1330, a royal license was given for John le Rous of Inmere 
to enfeoff Will, de Hedyngdon (Edyngdon), clerk, of the 
manor of Inmere, co. Wilts, and for him to regrant the 
same to the said John, and Alice, his wife, in tail male, 
with remainder to the right heir of John. On 16th January, 

1 33 1, protection was granted to him, with others, beyond 
the seas in the King's service. In 1332 Will, de Edyndon 
is called upon to reply to the plea of John le Rous, of 
Inmere, and Alice his wife, concerning the manor of 
Inmere. John seems to have died before 28th May, 1341, 
when a license was given for Alice, late the wife of John le 
Rous, to grant for her life to Adam, Bishop of Winchester, 
the manor of Inmere, said to be held in chief ; two years 
later, 6th January, 1343, a license was issued for Adam, 
Bishop of Winchester, to demise to Alice, late the wife of 
John le Rous, the estate for her life in the manor of 
Inmere, lately acquired from her by the Bishop with the 
King's license. John and Alice had a son, named Philip, 
alive in 1345, but he evidently died, as he did not succeed 
to the property. Alice presented to Imber chapel in 1344 
and 1346, and it was in her time that the Abbess made 
a claim to present. She died 1360. 

On 30th August, 1345, Richard is mentioned as executor 
of his brother John's will. This Richard made a feoffment 
of right in the manor of Imber, 1355-6, but still held it by 
serjeanty as Camerarius Regis, 1 361-3, and granted a 



To face page 158. 



THE FAMILY OF LE ROUS OF YMMERE. 



Richard, 
1167-1183. 



1 

Roger -r- 



Richard, 
1201-1212. 



Thomas, 
1212-1217. 



Sir Thomas, 
ob. 1 290-1. 



John, -r- 
c. 1238. 1 



r — 

Sir John 
ob. c. 1329. 



Isabella, and Ela. 



Sir John = Alice., 
ob. c. 1341. ob. c. 1360. 



(1) Richard =p 



r 



Elizabeth, = 
d. of Sir John 
Huntercombe, 
ob. 1407-8. 



(2) Sir Thos. 
Bekeryng. 



Sir John =p Isaude, d. of Sir Philip Fitz-Waryn, 
ob. c. 1422. 



r 



(1) Margaret = William = 
Thorpe ob. 1452. 

4 illeg. chil- 
dren. 



(2) Isabel 
Godchild. 



(1) Johanna 
Ashley 



John = (2) Anne 
ob. 1453. Goweyn. 
No law- 
ful issue. 



Edington and Imber. 



159 



reversion of Imber to Edington Priory. He presented to 
Imber in 1361, and there are various grants in connection 
with Edington Priory, founded about this time. His wife 
Elizabeth was one of the three daughters of Sir J. Hunter- 
combe, and married for her second husband Sir Th. 
Bekerying, Kt, who presented to Imber 1394. She died 
1407-8. 

The son, Sir John, called senior, married Isaude, the 
daughter of Sir Philip Fitz-Waryn and Constance, his wife. 
Two sons were born to Sir John and Isaude ; the elder, 
William, who left no legitimate issue, and gradually parted 
with the property, died 31st August, 1452, and was buried 
at the Grey Friars, London ; the younger, John, who is 
called lord of Baynton, died in 1453 without lawful issue ; 
he was buried at Edington by the side of his first wife, 
Johanna Ashley, in the south aisle of the choir. His 
anniversary was kept there, the manor of Baynton being 
held by the Rector for that purpose. The story is that he 
had been a great supporter of the Lollards, and that he 
made his peace with the Church by the grant of Baynton 
manor to Edington Monastery in the year 1443. 

This cursory account of the family of le Rous must ap- 
pear somewhat dry and uninteresting, but no description of 
the little village, so closely connected with Romsey Abbey, 
would be complete without a reference to the ancient 
lords of the manor. The present manor-house, standing 
perhaps on the site of a more ancient one, nestles under the 
great down at the head of the village. The single street is 
bounded on one side by a stream fed from springs which 
burst forth from the chalk, but as these are intermittent 
the inhabitants are often deprived of their stream which 
becomes a dry and empty watercourse. No account of 
Romsey Abbey could be given without a reference to 



160 Records of Romsey Abbey. 

Imber, but the village itself is not without interest by- 
reason of its history and seclusion ; it is a place apart, and 
lives a life even in this twentieth century cut off from the 
outer world. 



REFERENCES. 

The Close Roll. 

Papal Letters, Vol. III. 

B.M. Lansdowne MS., 442. 

Court Roll of Steeple Ashton, P.R.O. 

Ecclesiastical Documents of Exchequer, Q.R., P.R.O. 

Hoare's History of Wiltshire. 

Parliamentary Writs. 

Wiltshire Archaeological Society's Magazine. 



CHAPTER X. 



A.D. I352— 1405. 

ABBESS ISABELLA DE CAMOYS. 



"The nuns shall not be prevailed upon to 
take upon themselves the office of godmother." 

Bp. William of Wykeham's Injunctions. 



M 



Chapter X. 



ABBESS ISABELLA DE CAMOYS, 

TSABEL DE CAMOYS was appointed Abbess on 
A the 25th November, 1352, with the usual formalities. 
Some of the official documents are to be found in Bishop 
Edyndon's Register, but no account of the proceedings in 
the Church and Chapter House at Romsey is enrolled, and 
therefore no list of the sisters has survived. Such a list, so 
soon after the Great Pestilence, would have been of much 
interest, because it would have shown how far the pestilence 
had affected the numbers in the Convent, and would have 
preserved the names of those sisters who had survived this 
terrible ordeal. 

To this Abbess fell the task of completing the business, 
begun by her predecessor, with Bishop Edyndon in the 
matter of the Edington Priory. To her the Bishop left 
a ring, set with one ruby, together with £20 in money, 
for prayers for his soul. He added another £20 for dis- 
tribution amongst the sisters, that they might perform the 
like charitable office for him. To the Rector of the new 
Priory of Edington, John de Aylesbury, the same Bishop 
left a like sum and a silver cup with a cover. It is of 
interest to notice, by way of contrast, that while he left a 
like sum of £20 to St. Swithun's, the great Winchester 
monastery, he only gave to Hyde, the Nunnaminster, and 
Wherwell twenty marks each, or £6. 13s. /\d. The will 



1 64 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



was proved on the 20th of October, 1366, and in it the 
Bishop's father and mother are named, Roger and Amice. 

Isabella de Camoys continued Abbess for forty-four 
years (1352-1396), a length of time exceeded by no other 
abbess, with the exception of Maud Lovell, one of her 
successors in the fifteenth century. Abbess Isabella was a 
member of a Sussex family of importance, her father being 
Ralph de Camoys, Governor of Windsor, and her mother 
Joan daughter of Hugh le Despenser, Earl of Winchester. 
The family of de Camoys owned manors at Trotton 
and Broadwater ; the former place lies near Selborne and 
Bramshott, just beyond the Hampshire border, and the 
church contains some very fine brasses to members of this 
family. 

Two years before Bishop Edyndon's death, a small 
number of nuns had been professed by Robert Wyville, 
Bishop of Salisbury, at the Bishop of Winchester's request ; 
this was in the winter of 1362. The names of these ladies 
were : — Johanna Borhunte, Sibilla Holte, Isabella de 
Certeseye, and Thomasina Blount. The last named was 
sister to Lady Alice West, daughter of Reginald Fitz-Piers, 
Baron of Wolverley in Worcestershire, and wife of Sir 
Thomas West, who held land in Romsey. On her death, 
Lady Alice left various bequests to relatives and others, 
and amongst them she left to her sister, Dame Lucy Fitz- 
Herbert, Prioress of Shaftesbury, the sum of £4.0 ; to her 
sister Thomasina Blount, a nun at Romesey, 40 marks ; 
and 100 shillings to the religious houses of Shaftesbury, 
Romsey, and Wilton. These are the words relating to 
Romsey : — " Also I bequethe to the Religiouse women the 
Menchouns of the Hows of Romeseye and to the Prestes 
longynge to the same Hows Cs." The will is dated at 
Hinton Martel, a village in Dorsetshire, the 15th of July, 
1395, so that Thomasina Blount must have been an inmate 
of the Convent for over thirty-three years at the least. 



Abbess Isabella de Camoys. 165 



Bishop Edyndon seems to have been very watchful in 
preventing the crowding of convents with a larger number 
of nuns than the revenues would bear. At the beginning 
of his episcopate in 1346, he wrote to St. Mary's, 
Winchester, to Romsey and Wherwell " forbidding them to 
take a greater number of nuns than anciently accustomed 
or than can be sustained by them without penury, also 
forbidding them to sell or give corrodies when the ancient 
ones are vacant, or to admit any secular persons, except 
necessary servants, to live within the boundaries of the 
Monastery, without the Bishop's special license, and ordering 
them to remove all secular persons within the Monastery 
within a month from the receipt of the letter, and to let him 
know the number of nuns and how they have carried out 
his injunctions, before the Feast of St. Nicholas next, i.e., the 
6th December." In 1363 he wrote in a similar strain, and 
very probably other letters had been sent in between, for 
in the latter year he complains that having heard, by public 
report, that they have not obeyed his former letter, he 
orders them to remove all women lodging there (perhendi- 
natrices), whom they have received contrary to his letters, 
within fifteen days, and to receive no others without his 
special license. 

His successor, Bishop William of Wykeham, however, 
on 29th May, 1372, gave a special recommendation to 
receive a lady as a guest. The Bishop desires them, at 
the request of William Earl of Pembroke, to receive his 
kinswoman, Dame Elizabeth de Berkele, during her 
husband's absence on military service. The Earl was sent 
to relieve Rochelle, but his ships were taken and burnt by 
a Spanish fleet on midsummer eve, and he was made 
prisoner. The lady's husband is named Maurice Wyth. 
That the introduction of lodgers into a convent might 
prove unfavourable to the peace and quiet of the sisters 



1 66 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



may be gathered from an event which occurred in the 
winter of 1375. Certain persons broke into the houses 
of the Abbess within the Abbey and carried off Joan, late 
the wife of Peter Brugge, and her property, consisting of 
her gold rings, gold brooches or bracelets with precious 
stones, linen and woollen clothes and furs ; her chaplin, 
John Stonly, aiding and abetting the felony. 

On Sunday, the 19th of September, 1400, the Suffragan 
Bishop, Henry of Annadown, received the following ladies as 
nuns: — Margery Camoys, Alice Warennere, Joan Stratford, 
Alice Northlode, Alice Forester, Elizabeth Sampson, Maud 
Lovell, Katherine de la Mare, Alice Chamberlyn, Isabel 
Lekforde, Alice Artone, Juliana Shirnham, and Joan Umfray. 
Margery Camoys was a daughter of Sir Hugh Camoys, and 
must have been a kinswoman of the Abbess Isabella, who 
died in 1396. Alice Forester was, it is likely, a daughter 
of John and Elizabeth Forester, who held land at Goycroft 
and Wells in Romsey under the Abbey. John had died 
some five years previously, and Bishop Henry, perhaps the 
Suffragan, was commissioned on 4th September, 1400, to 
receive the vow of Elizabeth, relict of John Forester, of 
Romsey, and deliver to her the veil and ring of chastity. 

Fosbroke, in his British Monachism, says of these vows 
of mourning widows that they were very ancient : " The 
Anglo-Saxon widows made them, and the women wore a 
ring and russett gown. The Bishop of the diocese issued 
a commission, and besides observing the vow, the widow 
was for life to wear a veil and a mourning habit. Both 
were duly consecrated ; the veil was put on by the priest, 
but the ring only was sufficient." An example of the 
fourteenth century describes how the Bishop of Ely him- 
self, after celebrating Mass, received a lady's vow of 
chastity and solemnly consecrated and put upon the said 
vowess the mantle and ring. 



Abbess Isabella de Camoys. 167 



Maud Lovell afterwards became Abbess, and did not 
die till 1462. The Leckfords, of Leckford, had dealings 
with the Abbey from early days, and about this time 
Thomas Leckford held property under the Abbess. Joan 
Umfray was no doubt a kinswoman of John Umfray, 
appointed vicar of S. Laurence in 1400. That thirteen 
nuns should have been received at once seems to indicate 
either a number of deaths or an improvement in the 
financial state of the Convent. It can hardly indicate 
a lack of candidates in previous years, in the face of 
Bishop Edyndon's letters, quoted above. 

"The profession of nuns," says Mr. Fosbroke, "could be 
done by an Abbott or Visitor of the House after the year 
of probation and change of habit, and could be applied 
to any woman, whether virgin or not. Nuns were usually 
professed at the age of sixteen years." The entries relating 
to Romsey, which have been quoted from the Episcopal 
Registers, seem to refer to profession. There was another 
and a very elaborate service for the consecration of a nun, 
which could only be performed by the Bishop, and could 
not take place until the sister was twenty-five years old. 
It was inapplicable to widows, and was reserved for virgin 
nuns only. 

" The virgin, after the beginning of Mass and before 
the reading of the Epistle, came before the altar, robed in 
white, carrying the religious habit in her right hand and 
an extinguished taper in her left. The habit she laid 
before the altar, at the Bishop's feet, and held the taper 
in her hand. The Bishop then consecrated the habit and 
gave it to her, the veil excepted, saying : ' Take, girl, the 
robe, which you shall wear in innocence,' upon which she 
went into the re-vestry, put it on, and returned with a 

lighted taper in her hand, singing : ' I love Christ ' 

Then, after the Epistle, Gospel and Creed, the Bishop 



1 68 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



said : ' Come ! come ! come ! daughters, I will teach you 
the fear of the Lord,' upon which the nun came before 
the altar singing: — 'And now we follow with our whole 
hearts.' A Litany was then said by the clerks and seven 
Psalms by the Bishop, after which the Bishop arose and 
began the Vent Creator ; then the nun arose and came 
before the altar, when the Bishop put the veil on her 
head as she stooped. She then made her profession, 
placed a cross on the altar, and said three times : ' Receive 
me, O Lord,' after which she lay prostrate before the altar 
whilst certain Psalms were sung, etc." For a full and 
complete account of the service, reference must be made 
to Mr. Fosbroke's British Monachism; the extract here 
made will suffice to give some idea of the nature of the 
ceremony. 

There are two strange cases of the excommunication 
of nuns in the middle of the century. The first case is 
that of Margaret Poyns, who had laid violent hands upon 
the vicar, and, what was worse, she had committed the 
assault within the church. No reason is given for this 
extraordinary act on the nun's part, nor is there any means 
of knowing how far the vicar may have been to blame, 
but the sister is censured in no measured terms in the 
document by which the Bishop gives to two clergy com- 
mission to absolve her. 

This vicar was Nicholas de Boteleston* i.e., of Botulph's 
town, or Boston, Lincolnshire. He had been vicar for some 
twelve years at the time (1347), having been appointed in 
1334. He died soon after in the Great Pestilence. The 
derivation of his name is made practically certain by an 
entry in the Patent Rolls under 24th of June, 1347: — 
" Nicholas, Vicar of Romsey, acknowledges that he owes to 
Master J. de Offord, Dean of St. Mary's Church, Lincoln, 



* His seal is given on another page. 



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INJUNCTIONS OF BISHOP WILLIAM OF WYKEHAM. 
(From Register at New College, Oxford.) 

To face p. 168.] 



[See p. 172. 



Abbess Isabella de Camoys. 



169 



^"100, to be levied, in default of payment, of his lands and 
chattels and ecclesiastical goods in Co. Southampton." 

The other case is that of Margery de Rye. On the 
20th of March, 1368, the Bishop appointed John Turke, 
the Rector of Michelmersh, to hear the confession of 
Margery, or Marion de Rye. He authorised him to 
absolve her from the crime of apostacy if she is guilty. 
He had already on the 8th of February written to the 
Abbess saying that " he is informed that this nun has 
doffed the veil, and sits not in the choir with the nuns 
but in the nave with other women, and frequents private 
rooms, concerting and gossiping there with secular persons 
contrary to the decorum of her profession and the orders 
of the Abbess, neither worshipping in the choir nor saying 
the hours." The Abbess is enjoined to admonish her to 
resume the veil and conform to rule. In the September 
following, the Bishop again writes, saying : " He hears 
that Marion is disobedient. The Abbess may compel 
her to conform by any discipline not endangering life, 
using her own discretion in so doing." 

Another vicar was the occasion of trouble in the 
Convent, and this time the priest was clearly in the 
wrong. The trouble arose over the blessing of the palms 
for Palm Sunday, as may be seen by an extract from 
Bishop William of Wykeham's Register : — " It hath been 
the usage from the time whereof the memory of man 
runneth not to the contrary, that the Sacrist of the Abbey 
Church shall bless the palms and boughs of other trees 
used at Mass on Palm Sunday, and that from the High 
Altar and not elsewhere. Yet so it is, that the Vicar, John 

Folyot, John Mascal, and John , chaplains, have 

interfered with the Sacrist in the exercise of this privilege. 
Wherefore the Dean of Somborn is ordered to inhibit the 
vicar and chaplains, pending a decision of a cause promoted 



170 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



by the Abbess and Convent against them. Dated the 
13th March, 1372." 

During the latter part of the fourteenth century the 
Abbey received certain advantages. King Richard the 
Second, after the inspection of the Convent's charters, 
given by his predecessors, confirmed them on the 10th of 
May, 1390. The Abbey's copy is in the possession of the 
Right Honourable Evelyn Ashley, of Broadlands ; it is the 
only document, of the many that were once stored in the 
Convent treasury, which has survived the general destruc- 
tion and remained in the neighbourhood. A fresh 
confirmation was issued by Henry the Fourth on 20th 
of February, 1401, and again by Edward the Fourth on 
1st of July, 1462. 

Gifts were made to the Abbess and Convent in 1360 
by Walter Nott, parson of the Church of Muchelmersh 
and John Peuseys, chaplain, and John Wodefeld. The 
first two donors gave a messuage, an acre of land and a 
perch and 4s. rent, and also 6s. rent issuing from a 
messuage held by one John and Isabel Ablyngton, as 
long as they live. The last two donors give a messuage, 
and this property was in Romseye parish. Walter Nott 
adds sixteen acres of land and 3s. rent in Romseye and 
Sydmanton. These premises were held of the Abbey in 
socage by service of 12s. yearly. 

A similar gift followed in 1367, when Martin Moulysh, 
clerk, Richard Pauncefot, William de Putton, Joan widow 
of Gregory de Hoghton, John Menstede the Vicar of 
Romsey, and John le Forester made donations to the 
Abbey. The various properties consisted of messuages in 
Romsey, eleven in number, and six shops ; the gift of 
Widow Joan is charged to Walter de Sevenhampton the 
Prebendary, in 35-. 6d. a year, and a part of the land was 
in Stanbridge. The gift of the Vicar and John le Forester 



Abbess Isabella de Camoys. 171 



was a large one, besides three messuages and six shops, 
they gave two ploughlands, fifteen acres of land, eighty- 
four acres of meadow, sixty-four acres of wood, £1. lis. g\d. 
rent, and these lay in Romeseye, Rugge or Ridge, Totton, 
Terstwode, Magna More, Parva More, and Forde by Eure, 
now Oure. This gift, however, only came to the Abbey at 
the death of William and John Malewayn, to whom they 
were first given. Richard Pauncefot, one of the donors, 
was a member of the family who all through the Middle 
Ages held the Manor of Mayneston on the farther side of 
Middlebridge, together with the farm up the hill which 
still bears their name. William de Putton was seneschal, 
or steward, of the Abbey, and held land at Stanbridge. 
The Malewayns were of Testwode, and their name survived 
as a place name at the Suppression of the Abbey, when in 
the account roll of the King's bailiff mention is made of 
Moore Court and Moore Malwayn. John Menstede was 
appointed vicar at the time of the Great Pestilence, his 
immediate predecessor, William de Bures, having only 
survived for a few months ; his successor, John Folyot 
who was made famous or infamous over the dispute about 
" blessing the palms," was appointed between the date of 
this gift in 1367 and the dispute in 1372. Another vicar, 
Roger Purye, appointed in 1380, received a share in a 
benefit conferred on the parsons of Asshe, Romsey, Fak- 
combe, and Somborne by Walter Skylling. The latter had 
in 1364 obtained a grant from John Lord Talmache in 
respect of a property in Up Somborne, and he gave, at the 
later date, £40 annual rent, charged on the manor there, to 
John Peusey of Asshe, Roger Purye of Romsey, Thomas 
Thorold of Fakcombe, and John Cole of Somborne. 

Lucy Everard succeeded Isabel de Camoys as Abbess, 
the proceedings took about a month, beginning the 17th 
of April and ending 16th May, 1396. Before the close of 



172 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



the year Bishop William of Wykeham issued a commis- 
sion to Nicholas Wykeham, Archdeacon of Wiltshire, and 
John Elmere, his official, to visit the Abbey the 8th of 
September, 1396. This was done, and the Injunctions 
which followed the Visitation are to be found, not as 
usual in the Bishop's Registers, but in a small folio pre- 
served at New College, Oxford. These Injunctions are 
said to be especially interesting. Amongst other matters, 
the sisters are strictly charged not to be prevailed upon to 
take upon themselves the office of godmother, it entailing 
various inconvenient results. The opening page of these 
Injunctions will be found on another page. The details 
cannot be given, as the MS. is not at the present time 
available. Abbess Lucy Everard, like several of her pre- 
decessors, seems to have become infirm, for the Bishop on 
2 1st August, 1402, gave her permission to hear Divine 
service in her oratory, for one year, one of the sisters and 
her servants to be present. She died soon afterwards, and 
it was not long before the Bishop himself departed this life, 
nor, with the exception of one important matter to be 
related in the next chapter, is there any further informa- 
tion about Romsey during this great Prelate's episcopate. 



REFERENCES. 

Episcopal Registers. 
Patent Rolls. 
Inquisitiones a. q. d. 



CHAPTER XI. 



A.D. I340— 1540. 

THE PARISH CHURCH AND TOWN. 



The Parish Church has been and is much too little 
fitted for such a place and for so large a population." 

Register of Bishop William of Wykekam. 



CHAPTER XI. 



THE PARISH CHURCH AND TOWN. 

TOURING the fifteenth century, and even earlier, the 
towns which were under ecclesiastical Lords, the 
Bishops, Abbotts, and Priors, engaged in a continual 
struggle to gain a greater independence. Many succeeded 
in winning certain liberties and rights, and the system of 
town government by the town gradually came into being. 
Nothing of the sort appears to have taken place in the case 
of Romsey ; indeed the town was too small to have had 
much independent existence apart from the great Abbey 
which overshadowed it. 

An idea of the size of the town in the middle of the 
fourteenth century may be gained from a list of inhabitants 
who paid the tax of a fifteenth in 1340 to the Royal 
Treasury. The town was divided then as now into two 
parts, Romsey Infra and Romsey Extra, or Romsey within 
and Romsey without the bridge, the dividing line being 
the Fishlet or Fishlake stream. This stream was crossed 
by Porter's Bridge in the neighbourhood of the present 
Berthon Boat Works, by the Hundred Bridge on the 
eastern side of the Market Place, and by the Broad Bridge 
by Broadwater at the entrance to Banning Street. The 
stream then as now continued its course down Middlebridge 
Street. This part of the town indicated by Romsey Infra 
would be the streets which lay immediately around the 



176 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



Church, viz. Church or Church-style Street, Cherville (per- 
haps Church-ville) Street, Porter's or the Porte Bridge 
Street, the Market Place, and the west side of Middle or 
Myll Bridge Street. Romsey Extra would mean the 
hundred and its continuation, known in former times as 
Spitel Street, now the Winchester Road, Lullane, now Love 
Lane, Lortemere, now Latimer Street, Bannok, now Ban- 
ning Street, Brodelond Style, and possibly the country 
district around. 

The list for 1340 gives fifty-six families for Romsey 
Infra and sixteen for Romsey Extra. If an average of 
five members is allowed to a family, the total for the Infra 
district would be 280, and for the Extra 80, giving 
a combined total of 360 inhabitants. There must have 
been many families who paid no tax, besides household 
servants, but if the number given above be trebled it will 
only give a population of about 1000 persons for the town, 
apart from the inhabitants of the Abbey. Even if the 
town were somewhat larger than this it would not have 
been of sufficient size, nor its inhabitants of sufficient 
weight, to have sought any very serious independence of 
the courts and officers of the great Abbey. 

The highest tax paid by any individual was 6s. y and 
the lowest I2d. ; the total for the Infra part was £6. 13^., 
and for the Extra part 40s". 4^., making the whole tax of 
a fifteenth paid by Romsey £8. 13s. \d. There is no 
certain method of comparing the value of money then and 
now ; it has been suggested that the pay of a chaplain or 
chantry priest may be compared with that of a modern 
curate, both representing a "living wage," and so giving 
a standard of comparison. From 11 30 down to at least 
1234-5 the pay of the chaplain in Windsor Castle was 
30^. $d. per annum, or id. per day. From as early as 
1239-40 it rose to 50^., and so continued to quite as late as 



The Parish Church and Town. 177 

131 5. The next year one of the chaplains was to be paid 
ten marks or £6. 15s. 4a 7 ., three others 100s. or £5, and 
others 50^. In 13 17-18 all four chaplains were paid 
£6. 13s. 4d. This latter sum, if multiplied by 22, gives 
nearly £150 per annum. Mr. Charles Wall, in his recently 
published book Shrines of British Saints, says that moneys 
of the thirteenth century, multiplied by 24, will approx- 
imately give the relative value. For moneys of circa 
1400 the same writer multiplies by 16. The date of the 
Romsey tax falling between these two dates, 20 may be 
used for the multiplier. If this is a correct way of repre- 
senting moneys of the fourteenth century in present day 
values, the men of Romsey were assessed on a sum of 
£2600, and paid for a tax of a fifteenth £173. 6s. 8d. The 
highest individual assessment was on a sum of £90, and 
the lowest on £1$ ; the highest tax paid was £6, and the 
lowest £1 ; but these sums of £90 and £15 must not be 
supposed to represent the incomes of individual tax-payers. 
It is to be regretted that there is no means of arriving at 
a certain knowledge of the worldly wealth of the Romsey 
folk at this date, which would have been a matter of some 
interest. 

But whilst the men of the town were no doubt the 
Abbey's men, there are indications that the town had some 
little individuality of its own. An interesting letter 
addressed to the King, concerning the tax in 1338, is 
signed by four individuals, and their seals are attached on 
behalf of their fellow-townsmen. These men were William 
de Codewell, Thomas de Bourne, John le Bacch, and 
Andrew Parlebien. The first two occur again in the list 
of taxpayers in 1340. William paid the highest tax of 6s. t 
whilst Thomas paid 3^. These men may be supposed to 
have been chosen for the purpose of representing the town 
and to have been responsible for the payment of the tax. 

N 



178 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



This letter is in French, and the substance of it is worth 
copying. The list of taxpayers of 1340 is also printed. 

Letter of the Men of Romesye to the King. 

To the most excellent and noble lord, Lord Edward by the 
grace of God, King of England, Lord of Ireland, and Duke of 
Aquitaine, his liege men of the town of Romesye commend 
themselves to him in whatever services, reverence and honours 
they can. We certify to your high Lordship that we have received 
your letters of trust sent to us by your clerk Alayn de Boys, on 
which trust we were charged that we ought to send to you all the 
money which it pertains to us to pay for the fifteenth of our goods 
for the two years next to come, for great affairs touching you and 
your passage ; and, on account of various charges and grievances 
of debts of our wool, corn, malt, beasts, waggons and our victuals 
to great costs, for the guard on the sea, we cannot fully perform 
the abovesaid payment, but we will send to Ipswich 8/. and 4^., 
which is the fifteenth of one year, so that the said money shall be 
there on Sunday next after the feast of the translation of Saint 
Thomas (7th July) ; of the remainder of which, we pray respite 
until the time of payment which is lately granted, for certain, in 
Parliament. In witness of performance of the payment of the 
said 8/. and \d. at the day and place abovesaid, William de 
Codewell, Thomas de Bourne, John le Bacch and Andrew 
Parlebien, four men of the said town of Romesie have put their 
seals to these letters. Given at Romesie the last day of June, the 
twelfth year of your reign (a.d. 1338). 



Co. Southampton. First payment of subsidy granted 
14 Edward III (A.D. 1340): — 

Taxacio xv th ville de Romeseye infra Pontem. 



Subsidy Roll. 



Wifto Sewy iijs. 

Simone Molendinar iijs. 

Wifto Stermer iijs. 

Wifto Codeuelle vjs. 



Wal?o Langeforde xijd. 

Rofcto Pottar xijd 

Rico Edemond xijd. 

Henr Stur ijs. 



The Parish Church and Town. 179 



Johe Estemeste 


xijd. 


Thorn de Bourn 


iijs. 


Hen? Goury 


iiis. 
j 


Tone le Boghyer 


iijs. 


Tacobo Poun 
j 


vs. 


Johe Hounde 


xijd. 


Jofie Dounebrug 


xviijd. 


Ro^o Frost 


iiis. 


Wifto Poun 


ijs. 


Agnet Gobet 


iijs. 


Christina Poun 


vs. 


Johanna Scharprust ijs. 


Nicho Freyr 


xviijd. 


Rohto Vrleby 


iijs. 


Rico Taillour 


xijd. 


Henr Mourtone 


xviijd. 


Johe Barbour 


xijd. 


Johe Lyme 


xijd. 


Rico atte Wythe 


xviijd. 


Wal9o Taillour 


xijd. 


Thorn Fraunkeleyn xijd. 


Wifto atte Pile 


xijd. 


Wifto Wattedene 


ijs. 


Wifto Gatte 


iijs. 




Total 


Taxacia xv th 


ville de 


Johe Webbe 


vjs. 


Johe atte Felde 


vs. 


Ad le Cokf 


xijd. 


Isold atte Corner 


xijd. 


Henr Stour 


iiijs. 


Wifto Tolfry 


vs. 


Wifto Melemag' 


ijs. 


Johe Glut? 


vs. 




Total 



Phipo le Thrustell xviijd. 
Juliana Goldefynch ijs. 



Rohto Soylde ijd. 

Ad Iowys vjs. 

Edrho Irmonger iijs. 

Johe Pach iiijs. 

Stepho Carnifex xijd. 

Johe Kyry iijs. 

Margar Uppehull iiijs. 

Johe Goury xviijd. 

Wal?o Leche xijd. 

Rohto Marays iijs. 

Thorn Burgeys xiid. 

Johe Burgeys xijd. 

Jacobo Hay ward vjs. 

Henr Frend iiis. 

Johe Ray our xijd. 

Johe Pullebrig iijs. 

Wifto Gille vjs. 

Ad atte Burgg vjs. 
Johe de Shaftesbury xijd. 

Johe Solrugg xijd. 

Marco Tamar xijd. 

Rico Maynard iijs. 
vjti. xiijs. 

Romesey extra Pontem. 

Thorn Shephird ijs. xd. 

Johe Gyffard xijd. 

Johe Laittf xviijd. 

Marg"ia Webbe xijd. 

Thorn Gunry xijd. 

Rico Snayl ijs. 

Wifto Baker xijd. 

Johe Baker xijd. 
xls. iiijd. 



180 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



Nine years later came the Great Pestilence, and the 
town no doubt suffered no less than the Abbey, but a 
recovery is indicated at the close of the century by a 
significant entry in the Episcopal Register of Bishop 
William of Wykeham. The Bishop had made an enquiry 
in 1372 as to who was liable for the repairs of the north 
aisle of the Minster. Now the north aisle had been for 
years, and was probably always, the parish church of 
S. Laurence, separated by screens from the nave of the 
Minster, and reserved for the use of the townsfolk. This 
aisle was in an unsatisfactory condition ; the poverty 
ensuing on the Great Pestilence may well have been the 
cause of neglected repairs and consequent decay. The 
Bishop, who is celebrated for his zeal in building and 
for his love of architecture, was the very man to make 
his influence felt about even so small a church. The 
repairs taken in hand at the time cannot now be 
enumerated, but the matter did not rest with repairs, for 
on 10th May, 1403, on the application of the Vicar, John 
Umfray, and the parishioners, a faculty was granted to pull 
down the north aisle, from the transept to the porch, and 
to rebuild it on a larger scale. The Bishop, when issuing 
his license, speaks of the church as too confined and mean 
to hold the parishioners when they come together on the 
Lord's day, or on Festivals, to hear divine service. He 
commends their desire to make their church larger and 
more beautiful, and points to the Jews as an example for 
the adornment of Christian churches. If they for the 
sacrifice of dead creatures adorned their temples, how 
much more should Christians, with deep affection and 
ardent zeal, care for the beauty of the house in which the 
true and living sacrifice is offered upon the altar. 

The Bishop then speaks of the number of the parish- 
ioners, of either sex, belonging to the church, observing 



The Parish Church and Town. 181 



that it is the only church in the town, and that the town is 
likely to become notable, and concludes by declaring that 
the church has been and is too little fitted for such a place, 
and for so large a population. 

On the issue of the license, the work of pulling down 
or rather of piercing the north wall, was proceeded with, 
and a new wall was built further north in a line with the 
north wall of the transept, enclosing by this means a large 
additional space, the width of the transept. The new 
building became the nave of the new parish church, the old 
church becoming the aisle of the new one. The west wall 
of the transept was pierced, and the latter became the 
chancel of the enlarged church, separated off from the 
Minster by a carved oak screen, the cresting of which still 
survives and occupies a place on the top of the modern 
screen in the Abbey Church. The late Vicar, the Rev. E. 
L. Berthon, describes how he found "far away under one of 
the old roofs, these ancient oak carvings of heads in trefoils, 
with a curious cresting above." The history of the screen 
anterior to this is to be found in a Historical and Descriptive 
Companion to Romsey Abbey of the year 1828. " There is," 
it says, " a curious oaken screen of neat Gothic workman- 
ship, which now separates the west end from the part 
which is fitted up for worship. It formerly stood in the 
northern transept, and separated it from the body of the 
church, but when the alteration in the pewing was made 
it was removed to the place it now occupies, immedi- 
ately under the organ ; it was then painted. The top of 
the screen is crowned with running foliage, underneath 
which, in twenty-three Gothic trefoils, are as many carved 
faces. They are evidently portraits, very tolerably executed, 
and on this account curious and interesting. One of them 
is crowned, and all of them have their heads covered either 
with flowing hair, or wigs, or caps. The last on the right 



1 82 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



hand is a head thrusting out its tongue — perhaps a sportive 
essay of the carver." 

Besides granting a faculty, the Bishop wrote a letter to 
the Abbess begging her to encourage and assist the vicar 
in this considerable undertaking. So extensive an enlarge- 
ment, and one that must have been costly, points to a no 
inconsiderable increase in the population of the town, and 
to a desire for a more dignified church with ampler 
accommodation. This desire exhibits a growing feeling, 
on the part of the town, of its individual importance. 

The interest in the parish church was maintained, 
a slight indication of which is found in the will of Thomas 
Shotter, 1464-67. After expressing his desire to be buried 
in the parish church of S. Laurence de Romsey, he 
bequeaths for the fabric of the new aisle, 6s. 8d., for 
repairing the books a like sum, for a light, 6d., and to the 
vicar, 6s. Sd. Another bequest is of much interest : he 
leaves to the Brotherhood of S. George 20s. The exact 
date of the institution of this Brotherhood is not at present 
ascertained, but a chantry for it was founded on the 17th 
February, 1475, when King Edward IV granted letters 
patent for this object. 

" We have granted and given a license," so runs the 
letter, "to our beloved cousin William, Earl of Arundel, 
William Berkeley, Esquire, Edward Berkeley, Esquire, and 
Robert Berell, also to John Baker, Robert Blake, John 
Holme, and John Bacon, wardens of the church of S. 
Laurence of Romsey, that they, eight, seven, six, five, four, 
three, two, or one of them, may, to the glory of God and 
the increase of divine worship, and of S. George the 
Martyr, found, .... a certain perpetual chantry for one 
chaplain for ever, to celebrate mass every day in the parish 
church, .... for our good estate and that of our well- 
beloved consort Elizabeth, Queen of England, and Edward, 



The Parish Church and Town. 183 



our eldest son, while we live, and for our souls when we 
shall have departed from this world, .... and for the 
founders above-mentioned ; the chaplain is permitted to 
receive property to the value of £8" 

The existence of this Brotherhood and the foundation 
of this chantry indicates a growing sense of distinct cor- 
porate life on the part of the town and parishioners. By 
or before the last quarter of the century this feeling would 
seem to have been further quickened, for on the nth of 
June, 1485, eight men gave twelve messuages, twelve 
gardens, ten acres of land and four acres of meadow in 
Rommesey to this chaplain. The premises were worth 
66s. 8d. y and were given in part satisfaction of the £8 
worth of land which the late King had granted license to 
the said chaplain to purchase. The donors were Simon 
Crowchman, Stephen Cooke, William Tornour, John Eseby, 
Robert Whityng, Stephen Hayward, John Emery, and 
Richard Moore. One property lay in Bromcroft in 
Mayenston within the town, and was held of Walter 
Paunsfote Knight. 

From about this time the wills of parishioners help to 
throw light upon the parish church and its customs. 
William Molens, a dyer, dates his will 18th August, 1494 ; 
it was proved on 10th January following. The beginning 
may be quoted at length : — 

" I bequeath my soul to Almighty God, our Lady Saint Mary, 
and to all the holy company of heaven, and my body to be 
buried before the image of Saint Katerin in the north aisle of the 
parish church of S. Laurence in Romsey, if it please God that 
I should decease there. Also I bequeath to the altar of S. 
Laurence and to the vicar of the same for my tithes forgotten, 
6s. 8d., to pray for my soul. Also I bequeath to the fraternity 
of S. George in Romsey 3s. 4^. Item. — To maintain the light 
before the image of S. Katherin, 1 lb. of wax yearly during the 



1 84 Records of Romsey Abbey. 

term of seven years. Item. — To the church works, 6s. Sd. Item. 
— To the mother church of S. Swythin in Winchester, 2od. 
Also I will that a priest sing S. Gregoris trentall for my soul the 
year immediately after my departing following, out of this life. 
Item. — I will that there be dispersed among poor people in alms 
by the month's day, 26s. 8d. Item. — I will that my year's mind be 
kept yearly, while there be sufficient goods of mine to maintain it." 

In almost every will made at the beginning of the six- 
teenth century a bequest is made to the Brotherhood of 
S. George. Robert Martyn (6th May, 1502) gives 2od. or 
about £1 in present day money; John Gate (15th May, 
1502) gives 2d., i.e., 2s., and a like sum to the Brotherhood 
of S. Laurence; William Jamys (21st June, 1502) gives 
I2d. i.e., \2s. ; John Raynold (31st March, 1505) gives two 
Patellas ; Peronilla Rawlyn (21st January, 1509) a napkin 
of diaper. Besides the Brotherhoods of S. George and 
S. Laurence there was a Brotherhood of the Holy and 
Undivided Trinity, to which John Raynold left 4d., i.e., 4s. 
In connection with this Brotherhood there seems to have 
been an image in the church, for John Courle in 1504, 
besides leaving 2od.,i.e., £i,to the high altar of S. Laurence, 
and like sums for the fabric and for S. George's Brother- 
hood, he gives I2d., i.e., I2s. } for the sustentation of a light 
kept before the image of the Holy and Undivided Trinity. 
This John seems to have carried on the business of a 
weaver, for he leaves to his son Thomas "4 textrina, or 
instruments for weaving, commonly called Comes." One 
parishioner who desires to be buried before the image of 
S. Katrine gives nine sheep to the image, no doubt for 
the maintenance of a light. 

Thomas Laycroft makes his will on 5th October, 1530 ; 
he had been one of the bailiffs of the Abbey, and was 
severely reprimanded by Bishop Fox in 1506. He makes 
the following bequests : — 



The Parish Church and Town. 185 



1. High Altar of S. Laurence, is.Zd. 

2. Brotherhood of S. George, 3s. \d. 

3. Brotherhood of Jesus, ^d. 

4. God's rode in the Abbay syde, 

4d. 

5. Church works of S. Laurence, 

6s. Sd. 

6. Trinite light, 4d. 

7. S. Anthony's light, 2d. 

8. S. Clement's light, 2d. 



9. S.Rasymus'(Erasmus')light,2^. 

10. S. Katerin's light, 2d. 

11. S. Blase's* light, 2d. 

12. S. John's light, 2d. 

To the mending of the cawsey 
towards Tymsbery, is. \d. 

My house in the Hundred to John 
Laycroft my son for life, and 
afterwards to the Howse of 
Edyngton. 



John Beyre of Asthold in 1532 gives to S. George's 
Brotherhood a cow, and the cow is not to be sold, but to 
be put forth to hyre, paying yearly for mayntayng of the 
priest Sd., and 45-. to the bede rolle. This is the only 
mention of S. George's bede roll. 

These gifts to the parish church and brotherhoods 
continue to the time of the Suppression of the Monastery 
in 1539 and beyond that period. Stephen Hayes in his 
will, dated 7th July, 1537, bequeathes to his son Thomas 
"my stocks of bees; I will that he shall find a 2 lb. taper — a 
hallfe of wax — before the rode (rood or great Crucifix), in 
the Abbay of Romsey." In the next year, 13th January, 
1538, William Hill bequeathes for S. George's light lib. 
of wax, for S. John the Baptist's 1 lb. of wax and a like 
bequest to the lights of S. Christopher, S. Roche, and 
S. Clement. In this same year, 31st December, 1538, a 
brotherhood once mentioned in previous wills is spoken of. 
John Pydman bequeathes unto the Brotherhood of Jesus 
in the Parish Church, a sheep, called a wether ; and in 
1540, 13th April, John Bull, a wealthy mercer, desires to 
be buried in the Chapel of Jesus within the Parish Church 
of S. Laurence, and leaves money to S. George's Guild, 
which was therefore still maintained. 

* Bishop Blase, the patron saint of weavers ; an inn with this sign survives 
to the present day in Romsey. 



1 86 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



As late as 13th and 23rd January, 1544, John Horeloke, 
who desires to be buried in the bodye of the Church of 
Romeseye in the est (east) syde of the fonte there, leaves 
is. Sd. to the High Altar and to the use of the same 
Church a cowe, which Thomas George hath in keping, 
and gives to the use of the fraternitie of S. George his 
clothe Racke, that is overryght the house and tenement 
of the said fraternitie. 

The bequest of John Barwyke, 13th December, 1539, 
to this Brotherhood of a cow is worded so quaintly that it 
must be quoted in full : — 

"To the Brotherhood of S. George, a live cow worth Ss. And 
I will that the cow be put forth to hire for 1 2d. by the year, and to 
answer the cow for ever alive. Provided always that if the cow 
die of murrain or any other sickness within the space of eight 
years following, then I will that my executors shall buy another 
cow in the stead, so the cow shall not die within the space of 
eight years to no man's loss but mine. And after that year ended 
I will that the parish, that is to say the Brotherhood, do maintain 
a cow alive at the cost of the said Brotherhood and of no man's 
else for ever. And if the Brotherhood refuse thus to do at any 
time, then I will that my executors do take the cow again from 
them or the price which should be 8s. and to dispose it among 
poor people to pray for my soul," etc. 

One more point must be quoted from this will, his 
executors are to find a priest to sing for him and his friends 
in the Church of Romsey for the space of a year, having 
twenty nobles for his wage, the priest is to be a quireman 
and to kepe the quire daily. 

In 1534, just before the suppression of the monasteries, 
the chantry of St. George was valued at £4. 16s. 8d., but 
amongst the Certificates of Colleges (time of Edward VI) 
a view of this chantry is given, and throws further light 
upon the nature of the chantry and its value. It is 
described as : — 



The Parish Church and Town. 187 



"One Chauntry or Brotherhood of St. George. The said 
Chauntrye or Brotherhede of Seynt George ys sutwate and 
founded within the prshe Church of Seynt George in Romesey. 
The Inhabitants of the same prshe to have a prest to synge and 
say daily in the prshe Churche of Romesey as for the ayde and 
helpe of the Curate and for the ease of the pryshnors there. 
And the said Prest to have for hys salary or stipend as hereafter 
folowth : — The value of the said Chantry or Brotherhood by the 
yere, £8. gs. 4^. For Rent resolute, jQi. 7 s. 2d. For the Prest, 
£6. For the Tenths, jQi. 2s. 2d. Ornaments, plate, jeuelle, 
goods, catalls merly apperteyng to the said chauntre or brother- 
hood the worthe as apperyt by the Inventory praysed, £2%. 10s" 
If money was worth twelve times its present value, and 
the capital from which the above income was drawn 
realized five per cent., this capital with the money value of 
goods would represent a total of some ^2342, no incon- 
siderable sum for the parishioners to have got together. 

Little remains to be told of the Brotherhood. In a 
grant by Henry VIII, 17th December, 1544, to a Messrs. 
Foster and Marden, a piece of meadow in Waldyng is 
spoken of as lying between the lands of the Brotherhood 
and those of Nicholas Welles. In 1606 the Brotherhood 
lands paid to the Crown £59. i$s. ^\d. as a fee farm rent 
for ever. The following extract from the Patent Roll of 
1614, in the time of King James I, no doubt refers to this, 
and suggests that the Guild was then in existence : — 

" Grant to Anne, Queen Consort, of a yearly rent or fee farm 
of .£39. 16s. $%d. from the manor of Romsey Extra except 2s. 4d. 
payable to the brotherhood of S. George in Romesey, for rent 
resolute, and £1 allowed to the Vicar of Romsey for rent or farm 
of a customary tenement ; to hold for term of life." 16th February. 

A deed of 1654, preserved in the Town Hall Records, 
shows that these lands were sold to the Corporation. 

In the Hampshire Chronicle of 27th April, 1829, an 
entry records a faint echo of the once honoured Brother- 



1 88 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



hood : — " S. George's Day was observed here with the 
usual demonstrations of loyalty, ringing of bells, etc." 
Perhaps it is not too late to rescue a memory of the past, 
and at the same time encourage the patriotic spirit, by a 
renewed observance in Romsey of 23rd April, as the 
Feast of England's Patron Saint. The whole history of 
S. George's Guild, meagre as it is, points to a strong 
corporate feeling on the part of the townsmen with regard 
to their parish church, and indirectly indicates a sense of 
individual life on the part of the town from the middle or 
close of the fourteenth century. This feeling culminated 
in the very meritorious action of the parish, taken after the 
Suppression, by the purchase, on 20th February, 1544, of 
the Abbey Church itself for £100 for the use of the 
parishioners. This transaction will be described in a 
subsequent chapter. 



REFERENCES. 

Subsidy Roll. P.R.O. 

Ancient Correspondence. P.R.O. 

Episcopal Register. 

Ancient Wills — Somerset House, and Winchester 
Probate Registry. 



CHAPTER XII. 



A.D. I405 1472. 

THE MANOR COURT ROLLS. 

' ' We are perhaps too much accustomed to think of 
' the Religious Houses ' as only the peaceful abodes of 
contemplation and retirement, and forget the immense 
amount of business that of necessity devolved upon them. " 

The Rev. R. H. Clutterbuck, f.s.a. 



Chapter XII. 



THE MANOR COURT ROLLS, 

HEN Bishop William of Wykeham died, he left to 



v v Felicia Aas, a nun of Romsey, and to each of 
the other nuns 13s. 4d. } and to the Abbess, Lucy Everard, 
five marks ; he also remitted a debt of £40, due to him 
from the Abbey, which was to be applied to the church 
and cloister repairs. Felicia Aas is said to have been 
second cousin to the Bishop ; if she may be identified with 
the daughter of Ralph Aas, mentioned in the De Banco 
Rolls of 1363-4, she must have been of mature age at the 
time of the Bishop's death, 27th September, 1404. She 
was appointed ruler of the Abbey soon after this event. 
There is no entry in Bishop Beaufort's Register of her 
appointment, but the Patent Roll [6 Henry IV, pt. 2] shows 
that the election took place between 30th July and 27th 
August, 1405. 

One or two notes about the vicars at this time have 
survived. John Umfray, appointed in 1400, had a Papal 
indult granted him in 1404 for three years, while studying 
letters at a university, or residing in the Roman Court, or 
on one of his benefices. He was still vicar in 141 3, when 
he acted as receiver of the Abbey, and he is mentioned by 
the steward in his account roll of Edyndon. In a will of 
one of the townsmen, John Keredyf, or Cardiff, dated 
20th August, and proved 4th October, 1420, a further 




192 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



reference is made to John Umfray, vicar of S. Laurence, to 
whom a bequest is left of 3J. ^d. No other mention of 
vicars occurs till John Kent exchanged the benefice of S. 
Laurence, Romsey, with John Bailey for the rectory of 
S. Laurence, Winchester, in 1452. This leaves a gap 
of thirty-two years, but if Vicar Kent had possession for 
twenty years before his exchange, which is quite possible, 
there may be only one, if any, name missing in the list of 
vicars. The average incumbency of the preceding vicars is 
about twelve years, the longest being twenty years and the 
shortest four years, with the exception of that of William 
de Bures, who only survived a few months in the dread 
period of the Great Pestilence. 

The townsman John Keredyf, in his will, not only 
remembered the vicar of his parish, but also the Prior of 
Mottisfont, to whom he bequeathed 6s. 8d., the convent 
there to pray for the souls of himself and his parents. He 
also left I2d. for the fabric of Winchester Cathedral, and 
6s. 8d. for the fabric of Romsey Abbey and 6s. Sd. for the 
church of Abbott's Ann. He desired to be buried in 
the parish church of S. Laurence, and requested that a 
distribution of certain sums of money should be made to 
the various officers, as for instance to the clerk John Sexton 
and to the chaplain John Stapylforde. 

A note in the Reeve's account roll of Edyngdon, 141 3-14, 
is interesting. It says : — " Two geese as a gift to the 
chaplain celebrating mass in the chapel of S. Ethelfleda on 
S. Ethelfleda's day." Another account roll, apparently that 
of the steward or receiver, shows the income and expenses 
of the Convent ; it is dated 141 2-1 3, whilst Felicia Aas 
was still Abbess. The revenues were drawn from rents, 
from the Abbey farms, from the sale of works (operum), 
wool, corn, and malt, and from the perquisites of the manor 
courts ; all these were collected from Steeple Aishton, 



The Manor Court Rolls. 193 



Edyndon, Romeseye, Moure Malewayn near Romsey, 
Sydemanton, and Ichenstoke ; they totalled a sum of 
£404. 6s. o\d., perhaps some £6500 of present day money. 

This Account Roll, printed overleaf, is of no little 
interest, since it gives an insight into the homely affairs 
of the Convent life, and deals with food, clothes, servants, 
horse-hire, repairs of buildings, and alms, and might, in 
part, be the balance sheet of any large household. 

It may be worth noticing that rents and grain yield 
the larger part of the income ; and that, if the various 
expenses and repairs, numbered 4 and 5, be taken to- 
gether, the expenditure resolves itself into about four 
equal sums. 

The cost of the Abbess' establishment seems to have 
equalled and exceeded that of the sisters ; but she appears 
to have paid the servants' wages, and this and some other 
items may have benefitted the Convent at large. The 
largest item of expense in the whole account is that in- 
curred by the Abbess and her separate household, £$1. 4s. ; 
and next to this comes " tenths " paid to the King, 
£40. 13J. 4d. 

The total expenditure exceeded the receipts by 
£28. igs. 2d., but the account was altered by another 
£8. os. Sd. being spent on the Romsey mills, and after 
taking this and several arithmetical mistakes into account 
the deficit would seem to have been £35. 13^. 3^., or 1 
about £570. 12s. Sd. } of present day money — a rather con- 
siderable sum, if it continued year after year. 

The gift of £10 to Bishop Henry Beaufort should be 
noticed ; this Bishop made or attempted to make several 
pilgrimages to the Holy Land, but this one is not referred 
to in the account given of his life in the Dictionary of 
National Biography. 

1 Using 16 as the multiplier. 

O 



194 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



ACCOUNT ROLL OF 



Receipts. 

1. — Aishton. 

Rent 

Farm ... 

Sale of works 

Sale of wool (see under Edyndon) 

Sale of corn and stores ... 

Perquisites of Courts [i.e. Manor Courts] 

2. — Edyndon. 

Rent 

Sale of works 

Sale of wool 

Sale of corn and stores 

Perquisites of Courts 

3. — Romseye. 

Rent 

Farm 

Sale of works 

Sale of wool 

Sale of corn and stores 

Perquisites of Courts ... 

4. — More Malewayn. 

Rent 

Sale of corn and stores 

5. — Sydemanton. 

Rent 

Sale of works 

Sale of corn and stores 

Perquisites of Courts 

6. — Ichenestoke. 

Rent 

Sale of works 

Sale of corn and stores 

Perquisites of Courts 



Total receipts 



£ ' d 

56 2 3 i 

12 12 o 

6 11 o\ 

20 6 8 
680 



26 4 

6 8 

30 o 

16 8 

2 o 



53 o ni 
300 

2 4 4 
30 o o 

54 6 8 
400 



200 
10 o o 



3 3 o| 

2 o 3I 

26 6 8 

o 12 o 



9 S 7! 
3 o nf 
17 4 4 
100 



146 12 o 



32 



1 30 11 



^404 6 o§ J 404 6 1 



Totals under Sources of Income extracted from above. 



1. — Rent 

2. — Farms 

3. — Works 

4. — Wool 

5. — Corn and stores 

6. — Courts 

Total receipts as above 
Deficit balance ... 

Total 



£ 


s 


d 


149 


16 


7 4, 


15 


12 


O 


20 


5 


of 


60 


O 





2 144 


12 


8 


14 


O 






£404 6 o| 2 4 o 4 


6 


4* 


3 18 




2 


3^433 


5 


6* 



1 Error : \d. too much. 2 Error : ^d. too much. 

3 ^10 too little, by which the account does not balance. 



The Manor Court Rolls. 



i95 



ROMSEY ABBEY FOR A. D. *I4I2. 



£ * 

23 7 
38 4 
18 10 

25 15 



4. — [Various.] 

!a) Alms for the poor 
b\ Wine for nobles visiting the Abbess, etc. ... 
c) Broken crockery, and mending pots in divers 
offices 

(d) Shoeing horses of the Lady's household, in 

horse hire, and expenses of men riding 
on the Lady's business 

(e) In oblations, of the Lady and her household 
(/) In a gift to Lord Henry, Bishop of Win- 
chester, on his return from the Holy Land 



5.— Repairs. 

(a) Repairing the houses of Aishton Manor 

and other expenses there 
lb) Similar expenses at Edyndon 
(c) ,, ,, Romesey 

{d\ „ „ „ Stoke 

(e) ,, ,, Sidemanton 

(/) >i ,» >. Le Mour 



8 10 
3 6 



Expenses. 

1. — The Convent. 

(a) For clothing 

(b\ Their kitchen (coquina) 

(cj For pittances 

(d) The chief kitchen (percoquina) 

2. — The Abbess. 

(a) Provisions for herself and household, and 

divers expenses, during the year 

(b) In gifts 

(c) In liveries for the household, and spices for 

the guest-house 

(d) In fees of servants 

3. — [Extra conventual.] 

(a) Repairs of the houses of the Romsey mills f38 3 10 
(t>\ For pleas (i.e., in courts) 580 

(c) For necessaries ... 3 6 10 

(d) Annuities to the Convent, and to king's clerks 18 13 4 

(e) Tenths to the King 40 13 4 

(/) Procurations, etc 1 14 8 



5i 4 
8 12 



18 14 
30 6 



8 19 
6 13 

2 13 



6| 

4 
10 

o 

o 
10 



105 17 10 



108 o 



32 



'77 



8| 



Total expenses 



£431 18 8 433 5 6\ 



£ s d 

1 108 17 

2 32 1 

J 77 2 



< 1 



Errors in addition, by which the total should be less by £1. 6s. ic^d. 
as in the first column. 



* 14 Henry IV, ended March 24th, 1413. 

t Altered to £46. 4s. 6d., but the difference, ^8. os. 8d., is not added to the total. 



196 



Records of Romsey Abbey. 



Maud Lovell succeeded on the death of Abbess Felicia 
Aas, but again the Episcopal Register fails to help in fixing 
the date of election, the second Register book of Bishop 
Henry Beaufort, for the years 1416-1447, having been lost. 
This Register, says a note in the Bishop's first book, was 
lent to the King, who it may therefore be supposed omitted 
to return it. The Patent Rolls, however, show that the 
Abbess Maud's election took place in 141 7, and that the 
proceedings on this occasion lasted from 25th October to 
1 8th November. This lady remained Abbess of Romsey 
for a longer period than any, either of her predecessors or 
successors. When she died, before the end of April, 1462, 
her rule had exceeded the next longest abbacy, that of 
Abbess Isabella de Camoys, by about a year. The char- 
acter and inner life of the Convent at this time, owing 
to the loss of the Episcopal Register, is even less manifest 
than in the preceding years, and it is to all intents and 
purposes a sealed book. 

Direct information relating to the Convent being so 
meagre, it may be worth while to call attention to an old 
house, which formerly stood in Romsey, and bore traces 
of fifteenth century work. Dr. Latham, in his MS. collec- 
tions for a history of Romsey, gives the following account : 

" At the upper end of Church Street on the left, opposite the 
turning to Porter's Bridge, stands the house in which it is said 
that Sir William Petty was born. This house has undergone 
many alterations within the memory of persons now living, 1 and it 
appears to have been occupied till lately by persons who dealt in 
wool, as no doubt did Anthony, the father of Sir William Petty, 
who is said to have been a clothier in Romsey, and to have 
resided here. There are store-houses for wool in the two roofs of 
the house, as may yet be seen by the large doors opening thence 
into the street. The front of the house is of brick as far as the 

1 Dr. Latham lived at Romsey 1796-1819, and died at Winchester in 1837. 




ANCIENT HOUSE IN CHURCH STREET. 
Birthplace of Sir William Petty. 

Dr. Latham's Collection. 



To face p. 196.] 



The Manor Court Rolls. 197 



second floor ; the rest is of timber lathe and plaster. The inside 
bears evident marks of a much superior age. The ceilings of 
several rooms below have zigzag fillets of wood, painted black, 
with the appearance of gilding on the edges, about two to three 
inches broad, standing out an inch from the ceiling. This is con- 
spicuous in the room now made use of as the kitchen, and was 
once, no doubt, the great hall of the house, as may be conjectured 
from the original chimney, and from the curious workmanship 
which extends from the top of the chimney place to the ceiling." 

Mr. Latham then describes the chimney piece at length, 
but his sketch is better than any description. He draws 
attention to a merchant's mark on the two outside shields 
in the lower compartment, and to the devices of a bear and 
staff, and lion passant guardant, on the shields of the upper 
compartment. He adds that the house was consumed by 
fire with the tenements adjoining on Thursday, December 
14th, 1826. The chimney piece is to be dated about the 
year 1460, and belongs to the period when Maud Lovell 
was still Abbess. 

The merchant's mark is of special interest, because it is 
found again on an altar frontal of about the year 1450, 
which formerly belonged to the church, but which is now 
missing. The mark establishes a connection between the 
owner of the house and this piece of fifteenth century 
embroidery. The latter is described by Mr. Latham as of 
crimson velvet cloth richly embroidered with gold, the fruit 
or flower ornaments having green leaves. This handsome 
piece of needlework was, he adds, hung round the pulpit of 
Romsey church for many years, until a new cloth was 
given by Mrs. Delicia Barton, wife of Robert Barton, Esq., 
of Rownhams. The length of the remains of the cloth, 
when used as a pulpit-hanging, was 9 ft. 10 in. by 3 ft. 8 in. 
It may be compared with a cope of about the same date, 
the remains of which are carefully preserved in a frame, 
now hanging in the north choir aisle. 



198 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



Johanna Bryggys succeeded Matilda Lovell in 1462, 
the proceedings connected with her election lasting from 
26th April to 30th May. Joan Forde, the Sub-Prioress, 
Katharine ShyrTeld, Katharine Stadham, and Thomasine 
Assheley, nuns, are mentioned, but the last three could not 
be found in the Convent at the time of the election ; it 
is doubtful if Katharine ShyrTeld was a member of the 
community at this time, the two others appear in a list 
of 1478. In 147 1 the Abbess, with two of the nuns and 
a fourth lady, together with a Prioress, are found dining 
and supping in the Hall of Winchester College on the last 
Monday in the last quarter of the year. This was in the 
time of Warden John Baker of Aldermaston, Berks. 

A great deal of information about the business of the 
Abbey may be learnt from its Manor Court Rolls, a large 
number of which, relating to Romsey Extra, are preserved 
in the Public Record Office. They extend over a period 
of many years, beginning in Richard IPs reign, 1395, and 
continuing, though not consecutively, to 1597-8. The gaps 
between the existing rolls are wide ; for instance, no rolls 
appear to have survived from 1560 to about 1588. Whilst 
therefore the information to be derived from these records 
would be somewhat fragmentary, yet it is probable that 
a detailed study of them, together with the study of old 
wills and other documents, would yield a good deal of 
information about former inhabitants, the names of places, 
and the descent of lands and houses. Neither time nor 
space will permit of such a complete study here, but some 
interesting facts may be culled from the earlier series. 
These comprise rolls for the following years : — 

1395. 27th September. 1435. 4th May and 12th November. 

1428. 3rd November. 1436. April. 

1429. nth April and 6th October. 1437. (?) 

(?) 14th April. 1444- Second Tuesday after Easter, 

1434. 22nd October. i.e., Hocke-day. 




To face p. 198.] 



[See p. 197. 



The Manor Court Rolls. 199 



These rolls belonged to the Halmote, or Court Baron of 
the Manor, that is, the meeting of the tenants of the Manor 
for the transaction of business. The business consisted of 
" the transfer of land to tenants, the making of bye-laws 
for the regulation of the village communities, and the 
exaction of penalties for the breaking of rules." The 
Romsey Court Rolls exhibit a great variety of detail. 

Bond Tenants. 
Some inhabitants were bond tenants, over whom the 
Abbess as lady of the manor had certain rights. 

John, son of Peter Strecche, and Thomas, his brother, from 
1428 to 1436 betook themselves outside the demesne of the 
Abbess ; again and again the tenants are ordered under penalties 
to find them, but they never seem to have been successful. 
Another native, John Withgere, of Lee, paid 6d. annually to live 
outside the lordship. One Walter Gabbell, in 1435, P avs a & ne 
of 10s. to marry his daughter either without or within the lordship, 
wherever and to whomsoever he pleases. 

In 1444 another one of the family of Strecche, William junior, 
who held a messuage (i.e., a dwelling-house with out-buildings 
suitable for a country farm) and a workland, is reported to have 
left his holding and gone to parts beyond the seas, and is a soldier 
in the service of the King, and has six acres of wheat, five acres 
of barley, one acre of pease, and one acre of oats, which tenure 
and corn are committed to the care of his brother Walter. There 
is no fine in this case. 

Heriots and Fines. 

The conditions under which tenants held property 
varied greatly. For instance : — 

John Mascall dies in 1434. He holds a messuage and thirteen 
acres of arable land and two acres of pasture. At his death a 
black horse worth io.r. falls to the Lady of the Manor as a heriot, 
and another horse for a mortuary or payment at death. His wife 
Johanna has standing in the property during her life. 



200 



Records of Romsey Abbey. 



In 1428 William Skyllyngham gives as a fine two goslings and 
one flagon of red wine for license to give all lands, tenements, 
meadows, moors and pastures which he holds of the Lady, by fine 
to whomsoever he shall please for the term of his life. The 
property is to be well maintained, and rent and all services 
due and accustomed are to be well and faithfully paid. After his 
decease the Lady is to have a heriot of 6s. Sd. if he have not 
a large hog in his possession. 

In 1395 Richard Trappe held a gavelzeld and a cotceland in 
Kupernham. At his death the Lady, i.e., the Abbess receives as 
heriot a horse worth 9*. and an ox worth js. 6d. } and the holding 
remains with his wife. 

In 1395 Agneta Wiggelee surrenders into the hands of the 
Lady her holding in Bannok Street, except one chamber sufficient 
for herself, to the use of John Wheler. There is no heriot, but 
Richard, son of Walter Wheler, gives a fine of 35-. \d. for the 
cottage and curtilage ; he is to render rent and services and to do 
fealty. 

In 1395 Alice, the widow of Sir Thomas West (see Ch. X), a 
progenitor of the Lords De la Warre, who held of the Abbey in 
fee the Manor of Testwode and the Mill of Totyngton, i.e., 
Totton, died, and a heriot of a jument or draught beast worth 
20 s. fell to the Abbess. The son of Thomas West succeeded to 
the property, and was called to do fealty and pay a fine or relief. 
Before 1428 Reginald West had succeeded to the property, and is 
ordered again and again to do homage and fealty and to pay his 
relief. The demand was still going on in 1434, and it would 
seem therefore as if there was a deliberate resistance to the claim 
and ancient right of the Lady of the Manor on the part of the 
West family. 

Mills. 

The letting and repairs of the mills were matters of 
much importance. 

In 1428 William Berell took of the Lady of the Manor the 
site for a new fulling mill (for thickening cloth by a process of 
pressing). The mill was to be built on the water course called 



The Manor Court Rolls. 201 



Chavy, between a meadow called Smalemede and land called 
Evy ; the building was to be finished within the year. His term 
was to be good for sixty-one years at a rent of 45-., but he was 
not to take fish without leave of the Abbess. He was to do all 
repairs and to deliver the mill up in good and working order at 
the end of his lease. He was to keep the ground dry for a space 
of eight feet between his mill and Evy land, and maintain the 
banks of the river below, above, and around the mill. He may 
have a foot path {semi tarn pedalem) to his mill across the said 
meadow. He is permitted to remove (amovere) an island lying 
in the water course, and to have the pasture which William 
Melverne was wont to have belonging to the said island. 

In 1434 John More of Asshfold agreed with the Abbess 
Matilda Lovell and the Convent to take their four mills. Two 
of the mills were in a building called Townmill, and the other 
two in a building called Medmill. He was to have all the fishings 
of eels. His lease to be for seven years at a rent of £10. 6s. 8d., 
to be paid quarterly, together with 450 eels called shaftelynges 
and 30 large eels called skyveres. Elaborate conditions as to 
repairs are added, together with a clause binding the miller to 
grind for the Lady's household and for the horses. 

The rules relating to the grinding of corn were strict ; all 
tenants were bound to bring their corn to the Lady's mills and to 
no other. In 1444 the tenants of Lee and Wobbury near Toothill 
got into trouble because most of them took their corn to the mill 
of John Grenefeld at Skidmore ; in future a fine of 1 2d. was to 
be inflicted, unless a good reason could be given. 

Watercourses. 
The watercourses, of which there were many, sometimes 
gave trouble. 

In 1428 the lands and pastures at the More by Lee (*>., 
Moorecourt) were inundated by a flood at night through the 
fault of Alice Reynes. A fine of 6d. was imposed, and if matters 
were not set right by the next court a further penalty of 6s. Sd 
was threatened. 



202 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



In 1436 a complaint was made by William Bretere against 
William Smyth of Lee because he did not make his stathez 
[hatches] next the watercourse flowing there, whereby the plaintiff's 
meadows were flooded and damage done to the value of 6s. Sd. 

Poachers. 

The waters were a temptation at times to poachers. 

In 1435 J onn Sexsteyn and Thomas Talear stopped the water- 
course next Stretmede with a dam and took the Lady's fish, to 
her grave hurt, with pottes and other instruments. They were 
fined 6d. each. 

In 1444 Thomas Welynow placed snares called hare-pipes 
within the warren of the Lady at Wollys Downe in Wobbury 
and took many hares. He is to be attached by writ for the 
purpose of making restitution to the Lady. 

Disputes between Tenants. 

Sometimes there were disputes between tenants. 

Adam Bury cut down an oak growing in a certain garden at 
Bromcroft in Wobbury between the holding of Adam and the 
land of Thomas Shotter. The latter proceeds to unjustly claim 
the oak, alleging that it was growing upon his ground. The 
Homage, however, are of a contrary opinion, and Adam is per- 
mitted to remove the oak. 

Repairs and Building. 

Neglect in keeping tenements in repair caused much 
trouble. 

In 1434 John Peverell, of Cupernham, had neglected to 
repair his tenement according to the orders of the Court, and was 
fined 2od., and was further threatened with a fine of 3s. ^d. if the 
neglect continued. 

In 1436 Will Smyth, of Lee, had allowed his tenements to 
perish for want of repairs, and is fined 2d. His offence was the 
worse because the Lady had given him a good oak worth 40^. to 



The Manor Court Rolls. 203 



be used for the repairs, and he had allowed the oak to lie unused 
to rot and waste ; he is threatened with a fine of zod. This 
William Smyth, who bears the alias of Stontheroute, seems to 
have been a quarrelsome person, for in 1437 he is fined 6d. for 
assaulting and insulting Walter Streeche, the Lady's bailiff. 

In 1444 John More, of Halterworth, has not sufficiently 
carried out his repairs, and will have to pay 40^. if the business is 
not complete by the next Court day. 

A time limit seems to have been imposed on the building of 
new houses by tenants. John Basset in 1444 had built a new 
house in Lullane, and had finished the carpentry work, but had 
not roofed or enclosed it ; this he must do by the next Court 
under a penalty of 20s. 

Rights of Way and Inclosures. 
Ancient rights of way were jealously guarded. 

Walter Bernard in 1395 stops a way by which the Abbess's 
sheep cross from Prestland to Stretmed. On the other hand, no 
new ways are permitted to become customary. Walter, servant of 
John Forester, makes a way with a cart and horse through the 
ground of the Abbess ; he is to be distrained. 

Inclosures were another important matter. 

John Honchon, in 1444, inclosed one acre in Northgaston 
with a quick hedge, but this land should be common land after 
harvest. 

Again a croft next Northgaston called Silvercroft, held by 
John Catell as inclosed and separate, was from ancient time 
common land after harvest, the tenants are therefore to throw 
down the fences. 

A further point comes up, the tenants were accustomed to 
have a common way from ancient times for driving and carrying 
from Spitelstreet to Northgaston through a certain croft called 
Homcroft, which Thomas at Roke holds separate. The tenants 
are to pull down the fence across the way after harvest. 



204 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



Place Names. 

Northgaston^ or the district now lying about the railway 
station, has retained its ancient name ; possibly the footpath 
running at the present day from the old toll-gate house to the 
station follows the line of the disputed way mentioned above. 
But whilst the name of Northgaston has survived, the old name 
of the street by the toll house has disappeared. 

Spittlestreet, as it was called in old days, was so named because 
of the Hospital of S. Mary Magdalene which stood in it. Spittle 
Croft, or Little Broomclose, of some three to four acres, was 
bounded by the highway going to Tadburne on the east, and by 
the Tadburne on the south. The Spittle or Hospital was con- 
tiguous to this close and nearer to Romsey. This Hospital is 
twice mentioned in the Patent Rolls, in 131 7 and again in 1331, 
and is described as the Hospital of S. Mary Magdalene and S. 
Anthony. In the earlier year one John is granted royal protection 
for two years, whilst he travels about as proctor of the Hospital to 
solicit alms for lepers and other paupers. In the latter year 
a mandate is issued "to bailiffs and lieges to welcome Alan 
Unwyn, proctor for the leprous and poor persons in the Hospital, 
to collect alms for the relief of the inmates of the Hospital, now 
in extreme poverty. The " poure almys men and women of the 
spytell " are mentioned in a paper accompanying the accounts of 
the King's bailiff, after the suppression of the Monastery, and 
a list of names is given. 

Beyond Northgaston lies Cupernham, or Kupernham, one of 
the ancient tithings. South of this on the hill stands Whitenap, 
anciently known as Wyttenharp. Hauterworth is easily recog- 
nised in the modern Halterworth. In it was a close called 
HillfieldS) which is perhaps an earlier name for the more modern 
Highfield. 

Luzborough magna and parva, "with a small house," are found 
in the Court Roll, and with it Inslnesborough, a name which has 
dropped out of use. Ashfold of the Court Roll has now become 
Ashfield, and in a will of 1532 it is called Asthold. 



The Manor Court Rolls. 205 



Wobbery next Touthill is the title of another tything in 
Romsey Extra which is now forgotten. The lordship of Wolles 
may perhaps be identified with Southwellys, in which stood Grove 
Place. It is described as north of Langelond. 

The name Skidmore, in the Account Roll of 1539, is spelt 
Skydmoure, and is described as a part of the Manor of Southwell. 
This farm, together with all lands of this manor in Romsey, 
Elinge, and Nursselinge, were held by the Abbess and Convent 
from the Dean and Chapter of the King's free chapel within 
Windsor Castle ; but just before the Suppression they were under- 
let to John Huttofte, gentleman, paying rent to the Windsor 
Chapter, and for quit rents and services to the Monastery, 
£2. i6j. Sd. 

A pasture of twenty acres called Stary Frith is mentioned as 
part of the demesne of the Monastery, but the Dean and 
Chapter received £12 rent from it. 

Lee was another tything, and here lay the More. The latter 
name survives in Morecourt. In the sixteenth century it appears 
to be known in two divisions as More Abbott and More Malwyn 
or Malens. The latter title appears to have arisen from a family 
named Malewayn, who are spoken of as early as the fourteenth 
century. 

Broadlands appears frequently under the old spelling Brode- 
londe. In 1558 Sir Francis Fleming speaks of it thus, and gives 
the manor house to his wife Dame Jane, together with his lease 
of Staryeffrythe. The stream skirting the lawns of Broadlands 
gardens may be referred to in a concession to Thomas Mondy, 
alias Cucku. He was to have the whole tenth of the hay of the 
meadows from Waldyngbrigge to the parish of Nutshullying, i.e., 
Nursling ; for this he paid a rent of 4s. and a fine of a capon. 
Mr. Latham in his collections says that Waldenbridge, as he calls 
it, was rebuilt in 1686 of wood, with three arches, and mentions 
that in 1806 a Mr. Langridge remembered it. It had been taken 
down by Lord Palmerston in 1760, being out of repair, but the 
loss of it proved a great inconvenience to persons passing from 
thence to Lee and Toothill, who otherwise must go round by 
Romsey. 



2o6 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



To the west of Broadlands and on the opposite side of the 
river is Pauncefotes Hill. The name is a very ancient one, and 
the land was held by a family of that name for many centuries, 
probably from the time of Domesday. The Abbey, however, 
had land in the neighbourhood, for in 1395 they claimed arrears 
of rent to the amount of gs. 6d. for seventeen years, in respect 
of ten acres of ground in Botenhanger above Pauncefotes Hill, 
five acres of land in a field there, one hamma called Whithitham, 
and a wood called Emmotewode. There must have been below 
the hill a manor house at Mayhenstone or Maistone from early 
days. In 1231, 2nd, 3rd, and 17th August, Bishop Peter Quivil 
stayed there with his friend John Pauncefot, and wrote or sent a 
letter from there to Henry de Somersete, promoting him to the 
precentorship of Exeter Cathedral in commendam. A John, 
probably the same, is mentioned in the Parliamentary Writs of 
1 3 16 as Lord of the township of Maistone. A Margaret 
Pauncefot was a nun in the Abbey in 1333; and a Richard, 
whose name occurs many times between 1363 and 1395, was 
Seneschal or Steward of the Abbey in 1371. He, with others, 
made a gift to the Convent in 1367, and his property beyond this 
gift is described as the Manor of Mahneston, held of the Earl of 
Hertford by knight service, and worth yearly ioar. He was 
Sheriff of Hampshire, 1374-5. His son Thomas married Agnes, 
and is distrained by the Abbey for a rent of 9^. 6d. unpaid for 
seventeen years, in respect of Botenhanger on Pauncefoteshill. 

About 1420 Sir John Pauncefote married Margaret, daughter 
of Sir John Beauchamp of the Holt in Cowarne. An Eleanora 
Bruges, one of the family of the Bridges of Cobberley, married 
a Thomas Pauncefot, and this perhaps took place towards the 
close of the fifteenth century. It is worth noting that the Abbess 
from 1462-72 was Joan Bryggys, and marks another connection 
between Romsey and the family of Bridges. 

Walter Pauncefot died 22nd August, 1487, and left a young 
son Peter half a year old and more, and two daughters, Maud 
and Agnes; but Peter died 22nd August, 1492, and the Romsey 
male line of Pauncefot came to an end. Maud was then about 



The Manor Court Rolls. 207 



eleven, and Anne about nine years old. Walter's property in 
Hampshire is described as a manor called Pauncefot Hill beside 
Romsey, 300 acres of arable land, 200 acres of pasture, 100 acres 
of wood, and 6s. ^d. quit rent issuing out of divers tenements in 
Romsey worth £12, held of the King, as of the Duchy of 
Lancaster by service of one knight's fee. Also a tenement in 
Romsey called Gaterygges Place, and three acres of arable and 
three acres of meadow land in Stanbryggesfelde in the parish of 
Romsey worth 26s. Sd. held of the Abbess. Richard Willoughby 
and his wife Isabel were occupying the property 22nd January, 
1495- 

The land called Tappesham is frequently spoken of in the 
Court Rolls. There were several fields bearing this name lying 
near together, and Tappesham Lane ran at right angles to Mill 
Lane. One of the fields lies across the water right opposite the 
west end of the church between the two mills, as may be seen in 
the tithe map. Langeley Mede, Gosemede, and Southgardene 
with Tappesham formed a small farm of twenty-three acres. 

Paskirie, or le Pastyry, and Mynxton Mead adjoining it lay 
close to the Fulling Mills. 

The position of Priestlands is well known in Romsey. 
Periton seems to have been not far from Banning Street, and is 
spoken of as a tenement between properties belonging to the 
Braisfield Chantry. 

Other place names have occurred in the course of this 
chapter, and others are to be found in the Court Rolls and 
in many other deeds, but it is not easy to identify them. 
It seems a pity that so many old names should have fallen 
into disuse and have been forgotten, for place names are 
the milestones in the history of a town or village. 

REFERENCES. 
Ancient Wills. Somerset House. 
Ministers' Accounts, 921/21. P. Record Office. 
Dr. Latham's MS. Collections. B. M. Add. MSS. 26774 ff. 
Manor Court Rolls, 201/38. P. R. O. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



A.D. 1472— 1523. 

ABBESS ELIZABETH BROKE. 



"For sum [nunnes] bene devowte, holy, and towarde, 
And holden the ryght way to blysse; 
And sura bene feble, lewde, and frowarde, 
Now god amend that ys amys." 

From " Why I cannot be a Nun" I, 311. 



P 



Chapter XIII 

ABBESS ELIZABETH BROKE. 

HE last years of the Convent's existence were eventful, 



A but not edifying. A laxity of discipline seems to 
have crept in, and to have been the occasion, if not the 
source, of much trouble. Elizabeth Broke was elected 
Abbess on the death of Joan Bryggs, the congd d'elire was 
issued on the 27th May, 1472, and after the sisters had 
elected their Abbess, she appeared before the Bishop's 
Commissary in Romsey Church on the 16th June. Joan 
Skyllyng the Prioress, and others, who had interest in the 
election, were cited to appear, and no objection having 
apparently been made, the election was confirmed, and the 
royal writ, putting the new Abbess in possession of the 
temporalities or property of the Convent, was issued on 
the 22nd June. 

Trouble followed, something was amiss with the Abbess, 
and six years after, on the 8th August, 1478, the Bishop, 
William of Waynflete, comes to Romsey and interviews 
the Abbess, " who, before him in her chamber within the 
Monastery, swore on the holy gospels that she would not 
procure any hindrance to the disposition of the Bishop." 
Then at 2 p.m. on the same day she appeared again before 
the Bishop, sitting judicially in the Chapter House, and 
acknowledged her submission in the following words : — 




2i2 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



" In the name of God, Amen. I, Elizabeth Broke, Abbatisse 
of the Monastery of Romsey of the diocese of Wynchester, for 
certain reasonable causes movyng me submytte my person, my 
state, and dignitie and office Abbaciall. Also the admynystracion 
and disposicion of all maner of persons, servants and godes of 
the said monastery perteynyng yn any maner wise to me, by 
reason of the said dignyte and office Abbatisshall, unto you my 
lord and ordynary Lord William, by the grace of God, Bisshoppe 
of Wynchester. And as much as lieth yn me or may perteyne 
to me, I giffe fre and full powre to you my lord foresaid to dis- 
pose, ordeyne, reforme, correcte, injoin, decree, and to directe 
alle the premysses and alle manner of maters an causes perteyn- 
ing to me or concernyng me, my person and dignyte or office 
Abbatishall in any maner of wise, and the persons, servants, and 
goodes aforesaid and everych of them. And I promitte to obey 
and to stonde to youre disposicion, ordynance, reformacion, 
correction, injuncion, decrees and direccion, to be made and 
hadde by you my lord aforesaid, in these premysses and everyche 
of theym and to make your said disposician, ordynance, etc., to 
be kept by every person and servante of the said monastery, by 
this boke conteynyng the holy gospelles, touched bodyly by me." 

She swears that she made the submission of her own 
free will, without compulsion, nor was she led to this by 
deceit or fraud. 

On the next day, the 9th August, in a high (i.e., an 
upstairs) and inner chamber, situate between a certain high 
oratory or chapel and the great high chamber of the 
Abbess, Elizabeth Broke prayed the Bishop to accept her 
resignation and to declare the vacancy of her office. This 
he did, and repeated his acceptance and declaration in the 
Chapter House on the 10th August, the day following. 
Letters were despatched to the King announcing the 
vacancy on the nth asking licence to elect, and the conge 
d'elire or licence is dated the 17th August. It was not, 
however, till the end of the month, on the 31st August, 



Abbess Elizabeth Broke. 



213 



that the sisters proceeded to arrange for the election ; they 
then chose the 9th September for this purpose. On that 
day the Mass of the Holy Spirit was celebrated at the 
High Altar, and twenty-five sisters assembled, including 
Johanna Skyllyng, the Prioress. One sister, Margaret 
Taylard, was represented by proxy, Johanna Serell voting 
for her ; the Rector of Edington, who held a stall, and a 
vote in chapter, was represented by Isabel Morgan ; and 
Edith Holewey stood for Oliver Dynham, the Canon and 
Prebendary of S. Laurence the Greater. After singing the 
hymn " Veni Creator Spiritus," and giving the warning to 
those who might be under censure and unable to vote, the 
assembly decided to elect " per compromissum," that is to 
say, by choosing certain persons to elect in the name of 
the Convent They chose William Bishop of Winchester 
and Richard {i.e., Beauchamp) Bishop of Salisbury [1450- 
148 1 ], and granted them full power of electing a nun of 
the Monastery as Abbess until Tuesday next, the 15th 
September. 

On this day, at 9 o'clock in the morning, Bishop 
Richard of Salisbury refused to elect and returned the 
nuns' commission. The Chapter met at once and chose 
again to elect " per compromissum," but in a modified form. 
About the eleventh hour before noon they deputed and 
chose the said Richard " compromissarium," and granted 
him full power until 4 p.m. to elect as Abbess, by the secret 
votes of all the nuns, a nun of the Monastery, on whom 
the greater and saner part of the whole Chapter should 
direct their votes. This power Bishop Richard accepted. 
After the secret voting it appeared that the sisters had 
chosen Elizabeth Broke and re-elected her ; she herself 
had voted for Matilda Casewyk, and Katharine Statham 
for Edburga More ; these were the only exceptions. The 
Bishop then and there elects her as Abbess. The Prioress 



2i4 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



and Convent, Elizabeth Broke alone excepted, give power 
to Master David Husbond to publish the election to clergy 
and people, in the vulgar tongue, and this done they take 
Elizabeth Broke to the High Altar singing "Te Deum"; 
and certain prayers having been said over her, Master 
David before the High Altar solemnly declared the election 
in the vulgar tongue to the clergy and people assembled in 
a multitude. 

Three sisters, Isabel Morgan, Joan Paten, and Anne 
Rowse, are chosen to obtain the consent of the elect. 
They go to her, in a certain ground floor parlour, within 
the dwelling-house of Master John Grene, B.D., perpetual 
vicar of the parish church of Romsey, tell her of her 
election, and pray her to consent to it. She replies that 
she must deliberate what would seem to her most prudent 
to do in the matter. About 3 p.m. they many times 
beseech her to consent to the election, in the presence of 
witnesses and notaries, and at length Elizabeth, not wishing 
to resist the Divine will, consents to the wishes of those 
who had voted, and to her election. 

An event which had taken place in the earlier part of 
the day gives the full explanation as to the " reasonable 
causes," which led her to resign. The Bishop of Salisbury, 
about the same time that he returned the sisters' com- 
mission, i.e., about 9 a.m., received in the Chapter House 
letters of commission from the Bishop of Winchester sealed 
with his [oblong ?] seal. From this letter it appears that 
Elizabeth Broke had prayed to be absolved from the 
crimes of perjury, and adultery with one John Placy. 
The Bishop, as may be supposed, uses severe words of 
condemnation, and the mystery of her resignation ceases 
to be a mystery ; the cause for it is only too " reasonable." 
What remains a mystery is her re-election. This does not 
seem to have been altogether unforeseen, as may be gathered 
from the account of the penance imposed by the Bishop : — 



THE SANCTUARY. — TEMP. 1806-181 
Broadlands Collection. 



To face p. 214.] 



Abbess Elizabeth Broke. 



215 



"Then and there publicly Elizabeth knelt and said the 
Lord's Prayer and the angelical salutation," and provision 
was made that in the event of her being Abbess in the 
monastery, she should abstain from the use of the pastoral 
or abbatial staff, the sign of authority, for the space of seven 
years. The account adds that the Bishop of Salisbury 
then and there absolved her, before any election was made 
or any provision was arranged about her. How was it 
possible that one accusing herself of such grave crimes 
could even be thought of as possibly re-elected to the 
highest dignity in the Convent? The perjury had been 
committed before the Bishop, sitting judicially, and may 
have been incurred by the Abbess in an effort to exculpate 
herself, when accused, on some previous occasion, of the 
other crime of adultery. The coupling of the crimes to- 
gether suggests some connection between them. It should 
be added that her unchastity may have been contracted at 
an earlier period of her life, before she was a nun at all. 
Charity and reason both point to the existence of some 
mitigating circumstances, and the fact of her re-election 
may indicate that she had natural gifts for the office, if she 
had used them rightly. The re-election, however, did not 
prove a happy one, either because she had not become 
a good woman, or because she was broken by the severe 
ordeal through which she had passed, and those under 
her took advantage of the scandal and its attendant 
consequences. 

The royal assent to the election is dated the 21st 
September. The Bishop, on the 20th of the same month, 
orders that objectors to the election be cited to appear 
on Saturday, the 3rd October, and commissions his Chan- 
cellor, Master David Husbond, Doctor of Decrees, Henry 
Ervin, B.D., and Michael Cleve, to hear objections, and if 
there are none, to induct and install the Abbess, which 
was done by Master Walter Hodgis, the official of the 



216 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



Archdeacon of Winchester. A letter was written to the 
King for the restoration of the temporalities on the 3rd 
October, and the deed for accomplishing this is dated the 
14th October, two months having been occupied in the 
attempt to repair this grave and sad affair. 

Whether Elizabeth received back her pastoral staff and 
with it the full power of administering the affairs of the 
Abbey at the end of seven years is unknown. If so, she 
must have been again deprived, which seems unlikely. It 
appears probable that she was not trusted with full control 
for twelve or thirteen years, for under Bishop Courtney the 
Chancellor, Michael Cleeve, acting under a commission, 
restores her to the full privileges of her office. The Bishop 
says that he has decided to do this in consideration of her 
merits and reformation of character. This was in 1491, 
but in 1492 Archbishop Morton ordered a visitation of the 
monasteries of the Winchester Diocese, and commissioned 
Robert Shirborne, Treasurer of Hereford Cathedral, to 
carry out the business. The Abbess confessed to a debt 
of £80, a sum representing nearly £1000 to-day, " she 
suspected that the nuns made egress through the church 
gates, and prays that they may not frequent taverns and 
other suspected places." Isabel Morgan, Prioress, testified 
that the nuns frequented taverns, and went into the town 
without leave. One of the nuns complained that their sins 
and faults were not punished, and that the doors were not 
kept shut. 

These, and many other points which are given on the 
testimony of a number of the sisters at the Visitation, 
show that there was much irregularity going on, and that 
discipline had well-nigh disappeared. Special stress is laid 
upon the bad management of the Monastery's finance. 
The Abbess, it is said, had come under the evil influence of 
one Terbock, whom she had appointed Receiver or Steward, 



Abbess Elizabeth Broke. 217 



and he, if the sisters are to be believed, was dishonest and 
grasping, and played the part of the evil genius of the 
Monastery at this time. 

It may not be out of place to point out that the 
Archbishop's visitation deals mainly with faults of ad- 
ministration. The debt was certainly grave, the lack of 
discipline even more grave, but if any excuse may be 
found it will be in the unhappy position of the Abbess. 
She had been for years deprived of her full authority, the 
respect of her sisters must have been seriously impaired, 
and she may well have been a broken woman. Advantage 
would be taken of these matters by the less amenable 
spirits in the Monastery, and she may well have lent in 
financial matters too heavily upon the advice of the 
Steward, who was anything but scrupulous. When scandal 
has been, on any occasion, attached to one in high place 
and authority impaired, it is not surprising if quarrels and 
insubordination arise, or if bickerings and scandalous talk 
are found amongst subordinates. All this appears to have 
arisen as will be seen. Elizabeth Broke was culpable and 
perhaps wilful, acted weakly and no doubt foolishly, but it 
is also possible that the worst appears and that the worst 
was made of delinqencies. But when all has been said in 
mitigation of her offences it must be added that her 
re-election was a grave error, and the day on which she 
was reinstalled may be described as a black day in the 
annals of Romsey Abbey. 

Visitation by Commission of Archbishop Morton. 

Visitation carried out by Master Robert Shirbourne, 
treasurer of Hereford Cathedral, vicar-general of the Arch- 
bishop, begun at S. Swithin's Monastery, Winchester, 29th 
October, 1492. 



218 



Records of Romsey Abbey. 



Visitation of the Monastery of Rumsey. 

Dame Elizabeth Broke, Abbess, confesses that she owes to 
Terbocke a great sum, viz., 80/., as appears by a schedule shown 
by her. 

Item, she prays that no nun keep her own house or domicile 
("teneat apud se mansum seu domicilium") or receive anyone, 
man or woman, without the Abbess's leave. 

Item, she deposes that nuns are suspected of going into the 
town by the church door. 

Item, she prays that they may not frequent taverns and other 
suspected places. 

Item, she prays that they may not go outside the monastery 
without her leave. 

Item, she prays that an injunction be made that she should 
not pay a corody of 505-. or more, because there appears to be no 
cause why it ought to be paid. 

Dame Isabel Morgan, Prioress, deposes that the nuns frequent 
taverns, and continually go into the town without leave. She 
says that the nuns consented together in sealing an instrument 
delivered to Terbock, and that for three years the said Terbock 
had, in part payment of a certain sum which the Abbess confesses 
that she owes to him, a manor extended at 40/. 

Item, she deposes that the Abbess favours this Terbok too 
much. 

Item, she prays that the intention of the founder may be 
observed in celebrating masses, because now the number of priests 
is diminished, first as regards the infirmary, and secondly as 
regards the chapel of S. Nicholas. 

Item, she prays that an account be made of sales of woods or 
groves. 

Item, she deposes that nothing ought to be sealed with the 
common seal unless done with advice of some prudent man of 
her house. 

Item, she prays that injunction be made to the sisters and 



Abbess Elizabeth Broke. 



219 



Abbess that they choose no one as auditor without consulting the 
Archbishop of Canterbury. 

Item, she deposes that the Abbess, as much as in her lies, 
granted a prebend to Sir Adrian. 

Item, she prays that those men who are familiar with Terboke 
be driven from her house, and especially one called Write. 

Item, she deposes concerning a cross and many other things 
given to Terbok by the Abbess. 

Item, she prays that the rolls of account may be seen for those 
years in which Terbok was Steward. 

Dame Anabil Dunsley deposes with the Prioress, and prays that 
John Write be forbidden to have continual access to the Abbess, 
because it is said that he begs from her money for Terbok. 

Item, she deposes that the Abbess sealed certain indentures 
with her private seal. 

Dame Cecily Suede deposes that she did not agree in sealing 
the writing sealed Terbock, and says that all the perversion of 
the house made by Terbock and worst fame {famam pessimam) 
of the monastery is caused by him. 

Dame Joan Skilling deposes with the Prioress — 
Item, she prays that the conventual services be sung in choir 
(? inchorentur). 

Also she deposes concerning two mills withdrawn by the 
Abbess to the value of ten marks, now for two years, the profits 
of which ought to be given (dimitti) to the sisters. 

Dame Joan Paten deposes that she told the Abbess that she 
did not wish to be concerned in the writing delivered to Terbock 
of the office of receipt. Also she complains and asks that the 
beer may be improved ; also, concerning repairs not done in the 
monastery. Also, she prays that the nuns ought to observe divine 
services, and especially those in the Abbess's house. 

Item, she says that they do not serve the refectory, nor any of 
the nuns, on days on which they are bound to do so. 

Item, she prays that a nun who has been brought in (inducta), 
be restored to her place to which she is professed. 



220 



Records of Romsey Abbey. 



Item, she deposes that they have no priest in the infirmary. 

Item, she deposes that the Abbess said that when the inquiry 
was finished, she would do as she had done before. 

Item, she says that all things such as jewels belonging to the 
place are alienated and bound to Sir [Oliver] Dynham and Master 
Borton and some to others, as silver dishes and many other silver 
vessels. 

She prays also that communication made be had with Sir Ralf 
French (? domino Radupho Gallico) because he does not celebrate 
in his parochial church, and says that she has no fitting confessor. 

Item, she deposes that the doors are not closed at the tenth 
hour. 

Item, she deposes that no sin of the nuns has been punished 
for seven years. 

Item, she prays that no one go out of choir without leave. 

Item, she deposes that people stand chatting in the middle of 
the choir. 

Dame Thomasine Assheley says with the foregoing that she 
denied the sealing, but agrees in other things with dame Joan 
Paten. 

Dame Edith Howell deposes that due reverence is not given 
to the officials {pfficiariis\ nor are divine services observed. In 
other things she agrees with dame Joan Paten. 

Item, she deposes that she did not consent to the sealing in 
word or mind. 

Dame Anne Rowse deposes that she never agreed to sealing 
the office (of) Terbok. 

Item, she deposes that the Prioress does not observe divine 
services or hours, by day or night. Also, she deposes that the 
Abbess does nothing towards the observance of religion. 

Item, she deposes that offenders are not corrected. 

Dame Joyce Rowse agrees with dame Joan Paten. 

Item, she deposes that Terbok has a dwelling-house belonging 
to the Monastery, which is not repaired but almost in ruins, and 
a ruin. 



Abbess Elizabeth Broke. 



221 



Dame Joan Sutton agrees with dame Joan Paten in all things. 

Dame Ellen Tawke deposes that Sir (dominus) John Dameram 
gave for repair of the chapel of Blessed Mary, twenty marks which 
are thought to have been squandered by the Abbess. In other 
things she agrees with dame Joan Paten. 

Dame Christine Moore deposes that religion is not kept. In 
other things she agrees with Joan Paten. 

Item, she deposes that they used to be in the dormitory at the 
eighth hour, but now they have no fixed hour. 

Dame Mary Tisted agrees with dame Joan Paten. 

Dame Margaret Strowde says as her sisters. 

Dame Agnes Haynowe says that lamps are not kept, and this 
by fault or negligence of the sextoness. 

Item, she deposes that " perduntur pecunie in quibus domina 
quando communicari debebat solebat bibere." (Can this mean 
that sums of money are lost, which the Abbess was accustomed 
to spend in drink, when she ought to have shared them with the 
nuns — money to be distributed at anniversaries, etc. ?) 

Dame Agnes Skilling says with dame Joan Paten. 
Dame Agnes Hervey agrees with her other sisters. 
Item, she complains of the beer. 

Item, that there be no further going into the chapel of Blessed 
Mary, in order to avoid danger and future evil. 

Item, she deposes that Howell feeds his horses in ploughed 
places and meadows of the monastery. 

Item, she prays that the doors of the monastery be closed day 
and night unless urgent necessity require otherwise. 

Item, she prays that in going in and out of choir they go 
modestly and without noise. 

Dame Emma Conney has only been in the place for half 
a year. 

Dame Alice Widenstall agrees with Joan Paten. 
Item, she deposes that the Abbess keeps in her own house 
three nuns. 



222 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



Item, she deposes that one infirm (nun) is not looked after or 
ministered to as is fitting. 

Dame Elizabeth Rowthale agrees with dame Joan Paten. 

Some eight and a half years later, during the vacancy 
of the Archbishopric, and also of the see of Winchester, for 
the three months, 27th January to 26th April, 1501, the 
Prior of Canterbury, according to a recognised right, 
visited Romsey Abbey amongst other places. This was 
done on 27th March, 1501, by a commission given to Dr. 
Hede, and the account of the visitation is to be found in 
the " Sede vacante " register of the Priory. It is described 
as incomplete, much of the last folio being blank. This 
blank may have been left for the injunctions, which were 
very possibly never made, as the new Archbishop, Henry 
Dean, was elected on 26th April, or about a month later, 
and Bishop Fox was translated from Durham to Winchester 
some time in the spring, and the Prior may well have left 
the business in the Diocesan's hands. 

On the sisters' own showing matters were in a very 
unhappy state. A summary of troubles points to : — 

1. — A remissness of the Abbess in correcting the sisters, 
and cruelty with regard to them. 

2. — The undue and great influence of the Chaplain of 
the Infirmary, Master Bryce, over the Abbess, to the hurt 
of everything and everybody ; and to a scandal which was 
rumoured about him and the Abbess. 

3. — The decay of tenements in Romsey, and of the roofs 
of the chancel and dormitory which let in the rain, and the 
unsatisfactory state of the finance, the seal being no longer 
in proper custody. 

The Visitation is of much interest, and is therefore given 
at some length. It shows contradiction, one nun declaring 
" omnia bene," but the evidence is strong enough to condemn 



Abbess Elizabeth Broke. 



223 



the unhappy Abbess of bad conduct and of neglect in 
regard to the sisters, and points to a deplorable dependence 
upon the Chaplain, who was unscrupulous, and of doubtful 
character. 

This unhappy woman died soon afterwards on 12th 
May, 1 502 ; but the evil sown was not easily eradicated, as 
the Register of Bishop Fox will show. 

Visitation by Dr. Hede, Commissary of the 
Prior of Canterbury, 27TH March, 1501* 

The Abbess stated that the statutory number of nuns 
was forty, that they did not take their meals in the frater 
but in certain rooms assigned to them by the Abbess, that 
there were no debts and no valuables pledged, that there 
was a secular chaplain in the Monastery according to their 
statutes. 

Isabel Maryuleyn, prioress, testified to the due observ- 
ance of the night and day offices ; that the Abbess was 
very remiss in correcting the delinquencies of the sisters. 

Cecily Reed, sub-prioress, had but little to say. 

Joan Skelyng stated that the Abbess was wont to pay 
certain salaries to the nuns of iar. or 6s. 8d. ; that a great 
scandal had arisen concerning the Abbess and Master 
Bryce super mala et suspecta conversatione ; that lately, at 
the instigation of Master Bryce, the Abbess had been 
negligent in correcting the sisters. 

Joan Paten, chantress, said that tenements in the town 
of Romsey belonging to the Monastery were in decay 
through the fault of the Abbess ; that since the coming of 
Master Bryce the Abbess had conducted herself badly 
towards the sisters, and that she would accept no one's 
advice but his ; that since his coming she has not taken 



* This account of the Visitation is copied from the Victorian County History 
of Hampshire. 



224 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



her meals with the nuns, and that there were rumours of 
incontinence. 

Thomasine Ashley, almoneress, stated that the bread 
had diminished in quantity ; that one Gilbert de Wiltshire 
had letters pertaining to the Convent under the common 
seal without the consent of the Chapter ; that the Abbess 
and her accomplices had broken open the chest in which 
the common seal was enclosed, and that Joyce Rowse, who 
had the custody of one key by the mandate of the late 
Bishop of Winchester, could testify to this. 

Edith Holloway, cellaress, said that Mary Tystede and 
Agnes Harvey wore their hair long. 

Anne Rowse, sextoness, said that the Abbess was some- 
what remiss in correction, and made further charges of a 
pecuniary character against Master Bryce. 

Joyce Rowse agreed with Thomasine Ashley as to the 
custody of the common seal and the dismissal of the 
holders of the keys ; she further said that the Abbess 
under the influence of Master Bryce behaved cruelly 
towards her sisters, and that there was a great scandal 
about them ; that the roof of the chancel was defective 
through the fault of the Abbess, and she gave particulars as 
to various defalcations in the priory accounts. 

Maria Tystede, chantress, referred to the condition of 
the accounts in the time of the late Abbess, Joan Brygges, 
and said that rents which were then only go marks under 
the present Abbess had grown to 300 marks ; but that the 
bread and cheese in the Convent had lessened in measure 
through the intervention of Master Bryce ; that Bryce was 
suspected of being the father of a girl in Wiltshire ; that 
houses in the town as well as the dorter and the chancel 
were in decay through the fault of the Abbess, and that 
Master Bryce kept two or three horses at the expense of 



Abbess Elizabeth Broke. 225 



the Monastery ; that he had obtained a large salary under 
the common seal as chaplain of the farmery, and that he 
sat at table with the Abbess, and that there was common 
scandal about them. 

Ellen Tawke, third chantress, testified that the dorter 
and chancel were defective in their roofs ; that the Abbess 
had been in that office for thirty years, but what gain she 
had brought the monastery she was ignorant, but rather 
believed that the annual rents had increased to 1 1 1 marks 
from 50 ; that the houses of the Monastery were in decay 
through the fault of Master Bryce, whose advice was 
followed by the Abbess, and that scandal had arisen about 
them. 

Christine More, fourth chantress, said that the house 
was not in debt more than twenty marks, and that as for 
the rest it was omnia bene, 

Avice Haynow said that the chancel and the dorter 
were in decay, so that if it happened to rain the nuns were 
unable to remain either in the quire, in the time of the 
divine service, or in their beds, and that the funds that the 
Abbess ought to have expended on these matters were 
being squandered on Master Bryce, and that there was a 
grave scandal about these two. 

Agnes Harvey, sub-sextoness, made similar statements 
as to the roofs of the quire and dorter, and that the actual 
fabric of the Monastery in the stone walls was going to 
decay through the fault of the Abbess, and gave further 
particulars of the expenses incurred through Master Bryce. 
She also asserted that Emma Powes was guilty of incon- 
tinence with the vicar of the parish church. 

Emma Powes, who had been professed in a certain 
priory (King's Mead) near Derby, and from that place had 
been removed to another priory in Hereford diocese, where 
she had been prioress, and thence had come to this house, 

Q 



226 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



said that silence was not observed in the dorter, and that 
the roof of the quire and the lady chapel were in decay. 

Alice Whytingstale, mistress of the school, said that the 
Abbess at various times had prohibited her from receiving 
the Eucharist and from making her usual confession, and 
that since the arrival of Master Bryce the Abbess had not 
conducted herself amicably towards her sisters. She also 
gave evidence as to the faulty roofs, and that a corrody had 
been granted to Master Bryce of the annual value of £20, 
and that he had caused a great scandal. 

The testimony of six other nuns were also set forth 
of a brief character. The visitation is left incomplete, 
much of the last folio being blank. 1 

On the death of the Abbess, the Convent elected 
Judoca, alias Gaudeta or Joyce Rowse, who had been 
kitchener, or overseer of all that pertained to the depart- 
ment of the cooks. She was elected by the third method 
of election, i.e., by acclamation, or the uncontradicted 
declaration of the common wish of the whole body of the 
sisters. All the accustomed formalities were used, lasting 
from 6th-i8th June, 1502. The list of sisters who took part 
in her election will be found on pp. 236, 237. Anne Rowse 
and Anne Skelyng represented the Prebendary of Edington, 
John St. John, at the election. Two rooms are spoken of 
in which the elect remained during the closing part of the 
proceedings — "a base or ground floor chamber next the 
cloister," and " the hall of the house next the outer gate." 
These are worth mentioning, owing to the few indications 
surviving of the Abbey buildings. The choice of Joyce 
Rowse was unfortunate ; she proved quite unfit to control 
the Convent at this difficult period of its history, and indeed 
her example proved a bad one to the rest of the community. 

In January, 1507, the Bishop took steps to improve the 

1 Sede Vacante Register of Canterbury Priory. 



Abbess Elizabeth Broke. 227 



state of the Convent. Of Bishop Fox, it has been said 
that " it was his especial care to look after the discipline of 
the conventual houses of nuns." In 15 17 he published for 
the benefit of the nuns and novices in his diocese a 
translation into English of the rule of S. Benedict. 
A copy of this scarce black letter book may be seen 
in the long room at the British Museum Library. 
In the preface he says : " For these causes, at the 
instant requeste of our ryght dere and well-beloved 
daughters in our Lord Jeshu, the Abbasses of the 
Monasteries of Rumsay, Wharwel, Seynt Maries within 
the citie of Winchester, and the Priorisses of Wintney, our 
religious diocesans, we have translated the sayde rule into 
our moder's tongue, comune playne rounde Englishe, easy 
and redy to be understande by the sayde devoute religiouse 
women." 

In 1 521, writing to Wolsey, he says that "he has 
endeavoured to do within his own small jurisdiction what 
Wolsey had resolved on in both provinces of England, but 
though he has given all his study to it, for nearly three 
years, where he had to correct and punish, he found the 
clergy, and particularly (what he did not at first suspect) 
the monks, so depraved, so licentious and corrupt, that 
he despaired of any perfect reformation, even in his diocese." 
From a letter of Lady Sandys, it would seem that the 
monks and nuns were almost too much for his powers, but 
his personal character made his visitations and injunctions 
carry a force beyond their real strength. In 1528 he and 
his chancellor would seem to have been accused of harsh- 
ness, for he writes to Wolsey in defence of the action taken. 
" It is true," he says, " that the religious women of his 
diocese are forbidden to leave their monasteries, and yet so 
much liberty appeareth sometime too much." Had he the 
same authority as Wolsey he would endeavour to mure 



228 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



and enclose their monasteries according to the ordinance 
of the law, otherwise there will be no surety for their 
observance of good religion. For the rest, they are as 
favourably dealt with as any religious women in the realm. 
And it may be added that the nuns of St. Mary's, 
Winchester, speak of him as " a principal benefactor of our 
monastery." The words form part of an inscription in 
a pontifical which the good Bishop gave them. 

If Fox was severe, he had cause to be so even as early 
as 1507, as will be seen from the following injunctions for 
Romsey. And the state of things twenty years later is an 
even stronger justification for very stern measures indeed. 
Preceding the injunctions of 1507 are two entries of 
admonitions, one to a Mr. Folton and another to the vicar 
of the parish, whose name is not entered in the Register. 

Injunctions made by Bishop Fox for Romsey, 
on the 3rd of january, 1507. 

2nd January, 1507. — Master John Dowman, ll.d., Vicar- 
General of the Bishop of Winchester, in a certain chamber within 
the inn at the sign of the George, at Alton, warned Master Folton, 
appearing before him in person, that in future he should in no 
way go, or send or direct letters, messenger or sign to any nun of 
Romesaye, under pain of excommunication. 

Item, that he should not send any of his servants to the 
Abbey of Romsey ; and if he should wish to send any messenger 
to Master Brian Esthorp, 1 that then the messenger shall not be 
one of his own servants. 

5th January, [1507,] in the parish church of Romsey, Master 

John Dowman admonished Sir Vicar of Romsey, 

appearing in person, under pain of privation, that he should in 
nowise enter the precinct of the Monastery, except the chapel 
of the Holy Rood, nor have any communication with the Abbess 



1 Receiver of the Monastery. 



Abbess Elizabeth Broke. 



229 



nor with any of the nuns, in his own person, or by another, or 
by letters, or by deed, words, nod, or sign, or messenger, under 
the said penalty. 

[3rd January, 1507.] Master John Dowman, Vicar-General, 
admonished Joyce Rows, Abbess of Romsey, and enjoined her 
to behave well for the future, and especially in observing her 
religion, in avoiding conversation of secular persons, and also in 
drinking and eating to enormous excess, especially at night, on 
pain of privation. 

Item, in virtue of obedience that the Abbess, after and beyond 
dinner and supper, shall be sober and spare in her food and drink, 
and especially after compline. Item, that after dinner and supper, 
and especially after compline, the nuns shall not repair to the 
Abbess's chamber. 

Item, he enjoins the Abbess on pain of privation, that no 
priest, except Master Brian Estthorp and Master William 
Edwardes, and no other seculars, especially Trustran Faurit, 
le Roy Kyrkeby, Christofer George Flecher, and Thomas Leicroft 
have access and repair to her. 

Item, that evidences and jewels belonging to the Monastery, 
being in the keeping of the Abbess, shall be placed in the 
treasury, the Abbess and Master Brian Estthorp affirming them to 
have been and to be in the treasure. 

Item, he enjoins the Abbess on pain of privation, that two 
doors of her chamber, one towards the hall, and the other towards 
the court, shall be securely closed henceforth and securely locked. 
The Abbess, in sign of submission in this matter, handed and 
delivered the keys of the said two doors to Master William 
Edwardys, whom the Vicar -General admonished to keep them 
safely. 

Item, he enjoins the Abbess that neither Maud Rows, 
sextoness, nor any other of her nuns, shall go to her chamber after 
compline, nor shall she wait for (exspectabit) any of them after 
compline, on pain of excommunication. 

Item, he enjoins Isabel Morgan, prioress, " perquireret " for 
one nun who has had frequent access, familiarly and suspiciously 



230 



Records of Romsey Abbey. 



and beyond the proper time, to the house of the bailiff or " villici 
agricultor(is) " of the Monastery, and all others who went with 
her to the said house, and to correct and reform her, but to 
admonish all others that they go no more henceforth to the 
said house. 

Item, he enjoins the said Maud Rows, sextoness, in sight of 
the Abbess, not to go to the Abbess's chamber after compline, 
on pain of excommunication. 

Item, he enjoins her, in presence of the Abbess and Prioress, 
on pain of excommunication, to better observe the order which 
Richard, Bishop of Winchester, limited her to, namely, in keeping 
the door between the parish church and the chapel of the Holy 
Rood, and two other doors in the wall between the chapel of the 
Holy Rood and the choir of the nuns, so that these two doors 
may never be open at the same time. The Abbess, Prioress, and 
Sextoness, with others, closed these doors ; one of them being 
near the altar of the Holy Rood called " the rede dore " shall be 
wholly closed and locked and nailed to the wall with bolts and 
iron nails. 

Item, he admonished Anne Hervy to observe the religion 
which she had professed, better in future, and to abstain from her 
obstinacy and from the society of priests and from contradictions 
and scandals, and to amend her former defects, under a penalty. 

On the same day and place the Abbess, Prioress, Sub-Prioress, 
Sextoness, and all the other nuns concluded and provided that 
Joan Patent, nun, who had hurt her shin, by her consent shall in 
future have meals in her own chamber, and shall have daily in 
her chamber the right (jus) of one nun. 

Item, the said Vicar -General enjoined Thomas Hampton, 
doorkeeper of the cloister door, on pain of excommunication, 
before Master Brian Estthorp, Master William Edwardes, the 
Abbess, the Prioress, and the Sextoness, that in future he keep 
securely the said door, so that no one of any rank or condition 
shall enter or leave by it without his leave, He shall in his own 
person open the said door for any person entering or leaving, and 
immediately shall close and lock it. 



Abbess Elizabeth Broke. 



231 



Item, he admonishes the said doorkeeper that whenever any- 
one not living within the precincts of the Monastery shall wish to 
enter by the said door, the doorkeeper, before he opens the door, 
shall tell the Prioress that such a person is there, and in no way 
permit him to enter except by her leave. 

Item, he warned the Abbess and Prioress, together with the 
steward and Master Brian, that the door in the wall towards the 
cemetery shall be wholly closed and walled up, and the doors 
towards paradise shall be well and securely kept with all diligence. 

Item, he warns the Prioress and all the nuns to observe their 
religion, in attending to the divine offices, by night and day, and 
at the due hours, and especially at midnight, in good number, viz., 
twelve nuns at least. 

Item, that they sing the divine services gradually with pauses. 

Item, that by night and day at all canonical hours they go at 
the same time to the choir and return two and two, " cum pulchra 
et honesta modestia." 

Item, that they exclude outsiders, and do not speak to them 
without leave of the Prioress. 

Item, that they keep silence at the due times and places. 

Item, they shall be sober, and abstain from drink after 
compline. 

Item, they shall observe love and charity among them. 

Item, whenever it shall happen that any of the nuns deviates 
from love and charity, or offend in any of the aforesaid, especially 
in those things which concern their religion and the health of 
their souls, they shall be reformed, corrected, and advised by the 
Prioress and their confessor, or either of them, as the case 
demands and requires. 

The said vicar-general enjoins Elizabeth Rowthall and Agnes 
Skelyng, frateresses, to see the window of the kitchen closed and 
locked at the proper time, because the nuns have been used to 
hold communication with lay people at the said window, beyond 
the proper time ; and he admonishes Master Brian to provide for 
key and lock for the said window, 



232 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



He enjoined Agnes, wife of William Coke, cook of the 
Monastery, that she shall not be messenger or bearer of messages 
or " fabularum " or signs between any nun and any lay person on 
pain of excommunication, and as much as in her lies shall hinder 
communications of lay persons with the nuns at the said window. 

He enjoined Thomas Leycrofte 1 on pain of excommunication 
that in future he shall have no access to any chamber of the 
Abbess or nuns, and shall not enter the cloister nor the conventual 
church, nor have any communication with the Abbess or any nun, 
nor direct nor cause to be directed (destinari) letters or messages 
to any of them. 

On the said eighth (sic) day the said Vicar-General in the 
hall admonished Thomas Langton, Christofer George, Thomas 
Leycrofte, bailiffs, and Nicholas Newman, "villicum agricultorem," 
that they should behave better in their offices and with all care- 
fulness and diligence do those things which are incumbent on 
their offices, on pain of removal. 

He admonished William Scott, kinsman of Master William 
Brian Estthorp, that he should not have access to any nun nor 
hold communication with her at the kitchen windowe nor at any 
other place either in his own person or through some other person, 
on pain of excommunication. 

On the same day, in the chapel of the Holy Rood, the said 
Vicar-General admonished Sir John Cantwell, chaplain of the 
chantry of S. Nicholas in the Monastery, and John Lewes, 
chaplain, celebrating in the Monastery, that they should provide 
themselves with other posts against the feast of Easter next, and 
that after that feast they should not celebrate within the Monastery. 

No surprise will be felt that Joyce Rowse resigned her 
post some years later. This happened before 16th 
September, 1515, when the Conge d'elire was issued for 
a fresh election. Anne Westbroke was then elected ; she 
was " sexteyn " or sacrist of the Abbey, and had previously 
— in 1 502 — occupied the position of " mistress of the 

1 Bailiff. His will is dated 1530. 



Abbess Elizabeth Broke. 233 

school." The formalities were concluded by 9th October, 
when the royal writ put her into possession of the temporal 
goods of the Monastery. This lady continued ruler of the 
House till 1523, but there is practically no information as 
to the condition of the Monastery during these eight years. 
Feasting may be supposed to have had less temptation for 
one who had been mistress of the school than for one who, 
like Joyce Rowse, had been kitchener. Her capacity, too, 
for discipline may be supposed to have been greater. 
However this may have been, the Convent did not as yet 
recover from its degradation. That the office of kitchener 
should have been no occasion for the gratification of greedy 
desires may be gathered from a description of an ideal 
kitchener quoted by Doctor Gasquet from an old MS. : — 

" He should possess a kindly disposition, and be lavish of pity 
for others. He should have a sparing hand in supplying his own 
needs, and a prodigal one where others were concerned. He 
must ever be a consoler of those in affliction, and a refuge to 
those who are sick. He should be sober and retiring, and really 
love the needy, that he may assist them as a father and helper. 
He should be the hope and aid of all in the Monastery, trying to 
imitate the Lord, who said : ' He who ministers to Me, let him 
follow Me."' 

Two matters which touch on the external relations of 
the Abbey are worth recording. In 1522 Romsey, in 
common with other religious houses, paid an annual grant 
for the King's personal expenses in France, for recovery of 
the crown. A comparison of payments by different Houses 
is interesting : — Shaftesbury, £1000 ; Wylton, ^333. 6s. 8d. ; 
Our Lady of Winchester, £200; Romsey, £133. 6s. 8d. ; 
Warwel, ^"133. 6s. 8d. ; Syon, £333. 6s. 8d. ; Berking, 
£333. 6s. 8d. All these sums must be multiplied by twelve 
to obtain present day values. 

In the same year, on 15th September, the Bishop gave 



234 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



a license for celebrating Mass in the chapel or oratory of 
Stanbryge, on a portable altar, in the presence of the 
owner, Richard Lisseter, and his wife Elizabeth, and their 
family, and others. The license includes permission for the 
reservation of the Host in a standing or hanging pix, with 
a light continually burning before it. The latter clause 
runs in the original as follows : — " Necnon sacrosanctam 
Eucharistiam sive hostiam salutarem in pixide honesta 
serata stante vel pendente in eadem capella sive oratorio 
cum lumine continuo coram eadem hostia salutari ardente 
ut decet ad Dei laudem et aliorum Christi fidelium devo- 
tionem excitandam licite habere valeatis et possitis." 

A study of the four lists of sisters of the years inter- 
vening between 1478 and the Suppression in 1539, are of 
interest. The lists will be found on pp. 236, 237. The 
number of nuns fully or tacitly professed did not exceed 
twenty-six during the period. Five ladies, who were in 
1478 younger members of the Convent, survived till 1523, 
an eventful and troubled time ; they may have been 60-70 
years of age at the latter date. Agnes Harvey was 
Chantress in 1523, and became Sub-Prioress in 1526. To 
her the Vicar, Thomas Naile, in his will dated 19th of 
August, 1505, leaves his red cloak with a coverlet of 
tapestry. Hawise Haynowe was Sub-Prioress at the 
earlier date, with Mary Tistede as Cellaress, Clemence 
Maryng as Sextoness, and Alice or Agnes Skyllyng as 
Prioress. 

These lists give some information as to the titles and 
number of the officers of the Abbey, that of 1 502 yielding 
the most information. The officers mentioned are : — Abbess, 
Prioress, Sub-Prioress, Chantress and three Assistants, an 
Almoneress, Cellaress, Sextoness and four Assistants, 
Kitchener, two Frateresses, Infirmaress, and a Mistress of 



Abbess Elizabeth Broke. 



235 



the School. 1 There were thus eleven officers with eight 
assistants — nineteen in all — a large proportion out of the 
whole community of twenty-six sisters, but by no means 
too large in the earlier days when the Abbey numbered 
eighty to a hundred nuns ; indeed there were probably 
more, for there is no mention of a guest mistress who must 
have rilled a busy office when Romsey Abbey stood in all 
its glory. 

1 Chantress, who was the chief singer and had the care of the Library and, in 
male establishments, was architect to the community. 

Sextoness, who cared for the fabric of the church and had charge of the plate 
and vestments and looked after the cemetery. 

Cellaress, who was the purveyor of food stuffs, and had the care of the stores 
and also of the servants and looked to the general repairs of the house. 

Frateress, who was over the frater or refectory and saw that all was in readiness 
for the meals, providing cloths and napkins. 



236 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



Four Lists of Nuns during Sixty Years, 
9th Sep., 1478, to 28th Dec, 1538. 

Note. — Names marked * occur in 1478 and afterwards, and f in 1502 
and after, and X in 1523 and after. 

gth September, 14.78. 
Johanna Skyllyng, Prioress. Johanna Sutton. 2 

Edburga More. 



Katerina Statham. 1 

Matildis Caswyk. 

Anabella Dyngley. 2 

Elizabeth Broke. 3 
^Isabella Morgan. 2 
^Cecilia Rede. 2 
^Johanna Skyllyng, jnr. 2 
*Johanna Paten. 2 
*Thomasina Asshley. 1 2 
*Editha Holewey. 2 
*Anna Rowse. 2 
*Judoca Rowse. 2 



Johanna Serell. 
*Agnes Welle. 

*Johanna Stoode, i.e., Strowde. 2 
[These expressly professed.] 

*Maria Tisted. 2 

^Christina More. 2 

*Helena Tawke. 2 

*Hawisa Haynowe. 2 

* Agnes Skyllyng. 2 

*Agnes Harvy. 2 

^Elizabeth Routhale. 2 

[These tacitly professed.] 
Margaret Taylard [absent]. 



1 Mentioned in 1462. 2 Here in 1492 with Emma Conney and Alice Widenstall. 
3 Resigned the office of Abbess, but re-elected. 



6th June 
^Isabella or Elizabeth Morgan or 

Maryuleyn, Prioress. 1 
*Cecilia Reede, Sub-Prioress. 2 
^Johanna Skelyng. 
*Johanna Paten, 3 Chantress. 2 
*Thomasina Asheley, Almoness. 2 
*Editha Holowey, Cellaress. 
*Anna (or Maud, in 1506) Rowse, 

Sextoness. 2 
*Gaudeta or JoyceRowse, 4 

Kitchener. 
*Maria Tysted, 5 2nd Chantress. 2 
*Elena Tawke, 3rd Chantress. 2 
^Christina Moore, 4th Chantress. 2 
*Johanna Strowde, Frateress. 
*Hawicia Haynow, Sub-Sextoness 
2 In 1501. 



I502. 

* Agnes Skelyng, Frateress. 
*Agnes Harvy,s Sub-Sextoness. 2 

Emma Powes, 6 Sub-Sextoness. 
^Elizabeth Rowthall, 7 Sub-Sextones s 

* Agnes Wellys. 
t Alice Whyttunstall. 8 
tClemencia Maryng, Infirmaress. 

Mabel Harlyston. 
t Johanna KensalL 
Anna Westbroke, Mistress of the 
School. 

[These expressly professed.] 
f Edith Chykkysgrove. 
Johanna Wytheder. 
f Elizabeth Ryprose. 

[These tacitly professed.] 
3 Infirm, 1507. 



1 In 1492 and 1507. 2 In 1501. 3 Infirm, 1507. 4 Abbess, 1502. 
5 In 1 501, wore hair long. 6 Once Prioress in house in Hereford Diocese. 

7 Frateress, 1507. 8 Mentioned 1492, and in 1501 Mistress of School. 



Abbess Elizabeth Broke. 237 



21st November, 1523. 



* Agnes Skyllyng, Prioress. 
*Hawise Hayne, Sub-Prioress. 
*Mary Tistede, Cellaress. 
*Agnes Harvy, 1 Chantress. 
^Elizabeth Ruthall. 
tAlice Whittynstall. 
tClemence Maryng or Malyng,2 

Sextoness. 
tjane Kemsall. 
*Agnes Wellis. 
tEdith Chekysgrove. 
tElizabeth Riprose. 3 
tEdith Banester. 4 
Evelene Ynkpene. 



tjane Clifford. 

Christine Dacham. 
tAgnes Puttenham. 
tAlice Gorfyn or Gorsyn. 5 

[These expressly professed.] 

Jane Faner. 
tElizabeth Hyll. 
t Jane Wadham. 
JAnne Butteler. 
jMargaret Parkyns. 
t Margaret Dowman. 6 

[These tacitly professed.] 

Anne Talke [absent]. 



1 Becomes Sub-Prioress, vice C. Malyng deposed, 1526. 
2 Sub-Prioress in 1526, as well as Sextoness. 3 Abbess, 1523. 

4 Becomes Sextoness, vice CL M. deposed, 1526. 5 Admonished, 1526. 

6 Sentenced to imprisonment, 1526. 



28th December, 1538. 



tElizabeth Ryprose, Abbess. 
tEdith Banester, Prioress. 

Katherine Waddham, 1 Sub- 
Prioress, aged 23 in 1534. 
tjane Waddham, Sextoness. 
tAlice Whyttynstall. 

Abell Howrelston.2 
tjane Kersall. 
tAgnes Potenhall. 
tAlys Gorphyer. 
tjane Clyfford. 

Anne Fox. 
tElizabeth Hyll. 
tAnne Butteler. 
tMargyt Parkyns. 

1 Received 28th July, 1534. 



JMargyt Dolman [i.e., Dowman]. 
Jelyan More. 
Bone Pownde. 
Mawde Stronge. 
Mary Carell, 1 aged 20 in 1534. 
Elysabeth Langryshe, 1 aged 17 in 
1534. 

Agnes Hall, 1 aged 31 in 1354. 
Maryan Goddard, 1 aged 14 in 1534. 
Alys Stanle, 1 aged 15 in 1534. 
Katheryn Westwode, 1 aged 14 in 
1534- 

Avys Edmondes, 1 aged 17 in 1534. 
*Agnes Harvy. 3 



2 Possibly Mabel Harlyston of 1502. 
3 The only survivor from 1478. 
Elizabeth Flemyng, aged 20, admitted in 1534, but not in list of 1538. 



Records of Romsey Abbey. 



REFERENCES. 

Winchester Episcopal Register. 
Bishop Fox, by Batten. 

Letters and Papers, Henry VIII. Public Record Office. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



A.D. 1523— 1540. 

THE SUPPRESSION. 



And when he came to Saynte Marie's aisle, 
Where nonnes were wont to praie, 

The vespers were songe, the shryne was gone, 
And the nonnes had passyd awaie ! " 



Chapter XIV. 



THE SUPPRESSION. 



NN Westbroke died on Saturday, 21st November, 



1523, within the precincts of the house, and was 
buried before the high altar " as is customary," so runs the 
report. The Chapter met on 24th November and sent to 
the King their letter praying for license to elect by the 
hand of Master John Dowman, LL.D., Prebendary of 
Tymsbury, Christopher George and John Ray, literates. 
Master John Dowman had his usual house of residence 
within the parish of S. Martin, by Ludgate, London, and 
was represented on the election day by the President of 
the Chapter, Prioress Agnes Skyllyng. Christopher George 
was a literate of the Salisbury Diocese, and is described in 
1507 as a bailiff of the Abbey, when he and others were 
admonished to do their duty better. The Rector and 
Prebendary of Edington, John Ryve, was represented at 
the election by the Prioress, Agnes Skyllyng, and by the 
Sub-Prioress, Hawise Haynowe. 

The proceedings lasted till 25th January, when the 
temporal goods were delivered to the new Abbess, but 
the actual election took place on Wednesday, 16th 
December. The Mass for the guidance of the Holy Spirit 
was solemnly sung and celebrated by Master John Newman, 
perpetual Vicar of Romsey, "as the custom is," in the 
Conventual Church, the sisters being present, and then 




242 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



the great bell rang to Chapter, and the Bishop's Chancellor, 
Master John Incent, LL.D., gave " a wholesome exhortation." 
The grace of the Holy Spirit was devoutly invoked by the 
sisters on their knees, through the singing of the hymn 
" Veni Creator Spiritus " with its versicles, and the collect 
" Deus qui corda fidelium." Of the sisters who took part 
in the election, fifteen were expressly professed, and seven 
tacitly professed. The latter are described as of legal and 
sufficient age, viz., fourteen years and above. Two sisters 
were absent. They used on this, the last occasion of 
electing an Abbess of Romsey, the least usual method, 
that of " acclamation," or the uncontradicted declaration of 
the common wish of the body, " per viam seu formam 
inspiracionis seu quasi viam spiritus sancti." "And then 
on our knees," says the President, " we gave ourselves to 
prayer, beseeching God that He would be pleased to 
enlighten and inspire our hearts to choose such an one for 
Abbess as would appear devoted to God, and the more fit, 
serviceable, and necessary to our Monastery." Then 
suddenly, with united voice, as by the inspiration of the 
Holy Spirit, they chose Elizabeth Ryprose for their Abbess. 

Afterwards, the Te Deum Laudamus with its versicles 
having been sung, and the bells rung, " we caused Elizabeth 
Ryprose elect to be carried to the high altar of our con- 
ventual church — et earn super altare predictum prostratam 
poni fecimus." Psalms were sung, and the accustomed 
prayers were said over her by the Vicar, Master John 
Newman, and the Bishop's Chancellor published the elec- 
tion to the clergy and people assembled in a great 
multitude, and then and there publicly showed them the 
person elected. The nuns returned to the chapter house 
and sent two of their number with the notary and wit- 
nesses to the elect, " in domo familie sue " in the infirmary 
near the cloister, to urge her to accept office, but she 



The Suppression. 



243 



desired to deliberate till 2 p.m., and at last gave her 
consent in these words : — 

"In the name of God Amen. I Elizabeth Ryprose Sister 
and nunne of this house of or blessid lady and saynt Ethelflede 
of Rumsay in the diocesse of Winchestre of Thorder of saynt 
Benet and to the said ordre there exprestly professid lawfully 
elected and chosyn in Abbesse of the said house, and also to 
consent to the said election made of me of the behalf of the 
Convent of the said house by there procuratrices fyrstly secundly 
and instantly and moost instantly requyred, not wyllyng farther- 
more to resyst the wyll of God in that behalf : — In the name of 
Jhesu Crist and his blessid mother Mary and saynt Ethelflede in 
whose honor the said house and monastery is made and dedicate 
I expressly consent to thelection of me made in that behalf and 
therunto I gyve my consent to this present wrytyng." 

All this was according to custom, and is described in 
similar terms at other elections to the office of Abbess, in 
Romsey Monastery. In her oath to the Bishop, Elizabeth 
concludes with the words, " In witenesse whereof I have 
made thre crossis wt my hand the yere of or Lord God a 
thousand fyve hundreth and twenty thre" (i.e., 1524). The 
Bishop's letter of confirmation is dated 16th January, 1524, 
and the temporalities were restored by the Crown on 
25th January. 

Elizabeth Ryprose had joined the nunnery more than 
twenty years before this date, she would therefore have 
been at least thirty-five or forty years old, and may have 
been more ; she is not definitely mentioned as having held 
any lesser office before she became Abbess. There are 
indications that she was a capable woman, and did her 
best to discharge the duties of her office faithfully under 
a variety of circumstances of a most anxious character. 
Injunctions were issued at once by the Bishop's Chancellor, 
and Anne Talke, who was absent at the election, received 
correction at his hands, but the nature of her offences is 
not mentioned. 



244 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



Extract from Bishop Fox's Register. 

Injunctions made by Master John Incent, ll.d., etc., sitting 
judicially in the Monastery of Romsey, 1523, in the chapter- 
house. 

1. — The nuns are to keep silence in the church, cloister, frater, 
and dormitory. 

2. — They shall abstain from conversing with secular persons, 
not only in the said places, but also in all other parts of the 
Monastery, except with friends and kinsfolk, with whom they shall 
hold communication by leave of the Abbess in the Abbess's great 
chamber. 

3. — They shall keep their foreheads covered to the middle 
with their veils, and uniformly walk in measured pace with their 
habits. 

At the same day and place appeared Anne Talke, nun of the 
said Monastery, and prostrated herself before the said John 
Incent, and submitted to his correction and to penance for her 
offences. Penance, that she go to prison for the next month, and 
fast every Saturday (singulis sextis feriis), and take bread and 
water only ; and after she comes out she shall not use " suis ligis 
vocatis bendis," nor linen cloth under her chin, and shall take 
a lower place in the Convent until she shall be dispensed. 

The King had proposed to pay a visit to Romsey 
sometime during 1526; the reason for his visit does not 
appear, but he did not carry out his purpose for a very 
good cause, which Lord Sandys explains in a letter to 
Wolsey, dated from Arundel, 6th August. "The King," 
he says, " will be at Winchester on the eve of the Assumption 
(14th August), and will spend there the time he intended 
to be at Romsey, where the sickness is." The sickness 
spoken of here was the plague. From another letter it 
appears that Bishop Fox entertained the King at Winchester. 
" The latter was merry and in good health," writes Fitz- 
William to Wolsey, "and had had great cheer with my 



CONVENT seal (probably of late date). 
[The Annunciation." 

To face p. 244.' 



The Suppression. 



245 



Lord Arundel, Lord Delaware, Lord Lisle, and now with 
my Lord of Winchester." 

Bishop Fox, in the latter years of his life, betook himself 
to his diocese, lamenting his past neglect of his pastoral 
charges, and leaving the Court affairs to Wolsey. He 
became blind about 1521, and in 1522 writes to Wolsey 
of his neglect of his diocese for thirty years, and also of his 
four cathedral churches : — " he had never seen Exeter or 
Wells, nor innumerable souls whereof I never see the 
bodies." Yet it is impossible to think of Bishop Fox 
except as a great and good man, and one who desired 
to do what lay in his power to reform and assist the 
Monasteries. About six months after the King's proposed 
visit, and early in the year 1527, Romsey was again taken 
in hand, possibly at the Abbess's instigation, who must 
have had a time of severe trial by reason of the ill-doings 
of several sisters. In the face of the several visitations 
of Romsey Abbey during Bishop Fox's episcopate, it 
cannot be said that no efforts were made to reform the 
house ere the storm fell upon the Monasteries. The 
account of this visitation reveals a lamentable state of 
things in the case of several of the sisters, and closes with 
the saddest event that stains the pages of the Abbey's 
history. 

Extract from Bishop Fox's Register. 

"On 16th January, 1527, in the chapter-house of the 
Monastery of Romsey, before the vicar-general, sitting 
judicially, Lady Alice Gorsyn appeared, and confessed that 
she had used bad language with her sisters, and spread 
abroad reproachful and defamatory words of them. He 
absolved her from the sentence of excommunication, and 
enjoined on her in penance, that if she used bad language 
in the future, and spread about defamatory words of them, 



246 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



a red tongue made of cloth should be used (in sua barba 
alba) on the barbe under the chin, and remain there for 
a month." This was to be repeated if she were again in 
fault, and the Abbess was to carry out this injunction in 
virtue of holy obedience. 

On the same day, the said vicar-general by the bishop's 
command removed lady Clemence Malyn from the offices of 
sub-prioress and sextoness, on account of her negligence and 
carelessness in her offices, as she had been removed by the 
Abbess — and by authority and command of the Bishop and 
consent of the Abbess he appointed lady Agnes Harvy, sub- 
prioress, and lady Edith Banester, sextoness, and warned them 
in virtue of holy obedience to faithfully execute the same offices 
as they wished to answer for the same. 

On the same day, lady Clemence Malyn, sworn to answer 
faithfully in articles concerning her soul's health, and examined 
by the said vicar-general, says that on a certain night which she 
cannot recall, shortly before Christmas, the Abbess with the 
receiver, came to her about the seventh hour, and asked for a 
thief who was in the church ; she denied that anyone was in the 
church, and the next day, again questioned by the Abbess, she 
confessed that " dominus " Richard Johans was in the church in 
an aisle before the altar of the Rood, about 7 o'clock at night. 

Questioned by the said vicar-general, she confessed that she 
had often publicly held communication with the said Richard 
Johans in the church, the keepers of the church being present in 
the church, before the aisle of the Rood and in other places in 
the church, and sometimes other sisters being present ; neverthe- 
less she denied that she had ever done wrong with him, and says 
moreover that she often brought drink to him in the sacristy, but 
she did not drink with him, and to other things she answers in 
the negative — the vicar-general waits to give sentence until he 
consults with the bishop. Afterwards, asked, she confesses that 
she left the key of the door of " paradise " in a hole near the 
door, by which key the said Richard often entered the church. 



The Suppression. 



247 



At the same time and place Margaret Dowman con- 
fessed to misconduct with one Thomas Hordes, and 
penance was enjoined on her ; she was not to use any- 
linen upon her outer garments ; she was not to use the 
ring of her profession, which she had violated ; and if she 
carried a candle in procession she was to do so point 
downwards, and therefore doubtless unlit. She was to 
remain in prison for a year, and to abstain from intercourse 
and conversation with her sisters for that period, with the 
exception of the sister who had charge of her. During this 
time she was to fast on bread and water and abstain from 
other foods and drinks each third and sixth day for the 
year, and on those days she was to receive discipline in the 
chapter-house. 

Amongst the miscellaneous charters in Lambeth Library 
there is a Bull giving Papal protection to the Convent. 
It is endorsed with the statement that it was shown by 
John Foster on behalf of the Abbess and Convent on 
7th June, 1527. This endorsement suggests that there was 
some action at this time brought in the Court of Arches or 
elsewhere about the lands or titles of the Abbey, and that 
the Bull was produced in court as evidence. The Bull was 
originally issued by a Pope Gregory in his tenth year. 
There are only two Popes of this name who held the Papal 
see for so long a period, Gregory VII (1073-1085) and 
Gregory IX (1 227-1 241), and the protection would there- 
fore seem to be of early date. 

Bishop Fox was buried 5th October, 1528, and Wolsey, 
who succeeded him, died in 1530. There are no entries 
in his register relating to Romsey. It is not a little re- 
markable that a Thomas Wolsey Canonicus should have 
been ordained deacon in Romsey Abbey during Bishop 
Waynflete's episcopate, on 7th April, 1480, by the Bishop 
of Sidon, but as the great Cardinal was only born in 



248 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



147 1, it could not have been he who received holy orders 
in 1480. 

Bishop Gardiner's register contains no Romsey entries 
till 1534, and there is no evidence, therefore, to show how 
the Abbey fared during these six years, or how Bishop 
Fox's discipline affected the lives of the sisters. This 
was the year in which the Act of Supremacy was passed 
declaring Henry supreme Head of the Church of England, 
and in which the Nun of Kent, Elizabeth Barton, was 
executed for treason, and the time of terror had therefore 
begun. In the next year Sir Thomas More and Bishop 
Fisher were executed, and Thomas Cromwell was made 
vicar-general in matters ecclesiastical. He began enquiries 
into the condition of the monasteries. 

On 28th July, 1534, the Reverend Father John, Suffra- 
gan of Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, received 
the profession of nine nuns. The names and ages are 
given, and it may be noticed that two were but fourteen 
years old, which seems young for making full profession. 
The ladies were Elizabeth Langriche, seventeen ; Katherine 
Woodham (Wadham), twenty- three ; Marion Goddard, 
fourteen; Maria Carell, twenty ; Elizabeth Fleming, twenty; 
Katherine Westwood, fourteen ; Alice Stanley, fifteen ; 
Agnes Hall, thirty-one ; and Alice Edmonde, seventeen. 
All these ladies remained in the Convent till the suppres- 
sion, with the exception of Elizabeth Fleming, whose name 
does not appear in the list of 1538. 

There are two letters written by Elizabeth Ryprose to 
Cromwell this year, 1534, the one in November, in which 
she complains that a man to whom she granted a lease, 
according to the King's letter to her, has only paid twenty 
marks of the fine which he promised to pay, but at 
Cromwell's order will give up the twenty nobles which are 
yet unpaid. The other is dated 1 5th December, and in it 



The Suppression. 



249 



she says, " I have received your letters, and am sorry I 
cannot fulfil your request, for my grant is passed under 
my seal for the term of my life, as is known to Master 
Stafferton." 

In the absence of Cromwell's letters to the Abbess, it is 
impossible to judge exactly what was going forward, but 
these letters seem to show that pressure was being brought 
to bear upon the Convent to make appointments according 
to the will of the Crown, and it may be that the Fosters 
were appointed receivers in the February following under 
Cromwell's directions. One of these Fosters was a notable 
person during the last days of the monastery, and the 
particulars of his appointment will be worth recording. 

On the 20th February, 1535, the Abbess, Elizabeth 
Ryprose, appointed Thomas Foster and his son, Master 
John Foster, receivers of the Abbey in succession to 
Thomas Thomson, clerk, and Master Richard Pashide. 
The stipend was £$ {i.e., £66), and 16s. Sd. for livery, 
and for the livery of two servants 20s. Rooms for the 
receivers were appointed in the left part or south side 
of the gate within the Abbey, together with fuel and 
daily meat and drink. Stabling and provision was also 
supplied for three horses. It was John Foster who became 
notable by playing the part of the evil genius of the Abbey 
in the work of the suppression ; to him probably is due the 
destruction of the Abbey's rolls and MSS., and the un- 
happy Abbess must have bitterly rued the day when she 
appointed these men her receivers. 

The suppression of the monasteries was now at hand. 
In the July of 1535, Dr. Legh wrote to Cromwell offering 
his services as a visitor, and recommending Richard Layton 
as his co-adjutor. The first visitation began in October 
and lasted only six months, and the Act for suppressing 
the monasteries with an income under ^200 was passed 



250 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



February, 1536. The Court of Augmentation of the 
King's revenue was set up and commissioners were ap- 
pointed to carry out the suppression of these lesser 
monasteries. Abbess Elizabeth Shelley of St. Mary's, Win- 
chester, saved her monastery by a payment of ^333. 6s. 8d., 
but the reprieve was but a short one. In October of this 
year (1536), the rebellion in the north known as "the 
Pilgrimage of Grace" broke out, the commissioners were 
violently attacked, and some monasteries were reinstated 
by the insurgents. But by the autumn of 1537, the Crown 
had regained control of the country, and the visitations 
were continued and extended over the whole of 1538 and 
1539. The larger monasteries were bribed or threatened 
into making surrender, indeed, it is said that few remained 
by the close of the year 1538. An instance of how 
matters were managed when a religious house was obsti- 
nate is seen in the case of Amesbury. The Abbess 
Florence Bannerman, who held out faithful to her trust, 
was deposed on 15th December, 1539, and a pliable suc- 
cessor, Joan Darrell, was appointed, who at once surrendered 
to the Royal pleasure. Houses which surrendered obtained 
an advantage, the abbess or prioress and her sisters receiving 
pensions. For instance, Elizabeth Shelley, of S. Mary's, 
Winchester, obtained a pension of £26. The Abbess of 
Wherwell obtained £40, and her sisters from £3. 6s. Sd. 
to £6 each. The pliant Joan Darrell of Amesbury 
received £100, and the Head of the wealthy Abbey of 
Shaftesbury £133. 

The course of events at Romsey is not very clear. Sir 
Richard Lyster of Stanbridge writes to Cromwell on 15th 
September, 1538: "The Monastery of Romsey, hearing 
they are in danger of suppression, are making leases and 
alienating their goods. He desires to know whether he 
should stay them in this." There have survived a number 



The Suppression. 



251 



of deeds dated within a week of Sir Richard Lyster's letter, 
viz., 20th September, making grants to a variety of persons. 
Christopher Shorte is made wodeward of the woods within 
the parish of Romsey, and he and his wife, the handmaiden 
of the Lady (the Abbess), obtain a pension of 66s. 8d., with 
a clause of distraint in case of nonpayment. These people 
were doubtless faithful servants of the Abbess, who would 
seem to have been kindly, if not wise, in her generation. 
On the same day Henry Warner and Thomas Webbe were 
appointed to the offices of bailiff and collector of rents, 
formerly held by Christopher George and John Ray. This 
may have been simply an appointment in the ordinary 
course of things. It is difficult to say the same of the next 
two gifts. Francis Strowde receives an annual rent of 40^, 
with a clause of distraint, and Nicholas Wadham, generosus, 
obtains an annuity of £j under like conditions. The latter 
grant has a special significance when it is recollected that 
this gentleman had two daughters in the Abbey, Katherine 
Wadham, who only became professed in 1534, and was 
now sub-prioress, and Jane, who was here in 1523, and now 
held the office of sextoness or sacristan. A third lady, 
Elizabeth Hill, was probably a kinswoman, Sir Nicholas 
having married as his first wife Joan, daughter of Robert 
Hill, of Antony. The mother of the other two ladies was 
Margaret, daughter of Sir John Seymour, of Wolfall, Wilts, 
and sister to Queen Jane Seymour and Sir Thomas 
Seymour. Sir Nicholas is described as of Merfield in 
Somerset, and Governor of the Isle of Wight. His lady's 
tomb may be seen in the church of S. Mary's Priory, 
Carisbrooke. 

The connection of the Wadhams with the Court may 
have led the authorities to hope that the Monastery would 
be easily and quietly surrendered. One of the receivers, 
John Foster, who may very possibly be identified with 



252 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



John Foster appointed on ist September, 1536, to the 
chaplaincies of S. Andrew within the Infirmary and of S. 
Peter within the Abbey, writes a long letter to Sir Thomas 
Seymour, 28th December, 1538: — 

" In my most harty wise, Right Worshipful Syr., I recommend 
me unto you, and according to your request I doo herein signify 
and subscribe unto you the state of the House of Romesey, the 
Rents of Assize, and where they do lie, and the riches of the 
same. 

" First you shall understand that the House is outt of dette, 
also the plate and jewels is worth ccc/z. and better, VI belles 
be worth cli. at the lest, also the Chyrche is a great sumptuus 
Thynge all of freestone and covered with lede which as I esteme 
it is worth iij or iiijc/z. or rather myche better." 

He here gives a list of the manors and lordships belonging 
to the convent, amounting to about ^48 1. is. Sd. annually. 

Rents of the Abbey of Romsey : — 

£ s d 

Lordship of Ry, yearly value 235 o o 

Ichynstoke ... ... ... 28 9 of 

Sydmanton ... ... ... 30 12 o 

Tyleshade ... ... ... 11 6 8 

Dorset, Pewdell ... ... 200 

Gloucester, Hownelacy ... 6 13 4 

Wilts, Asheton, Edyngton ... 167 o j\ 

£481 1 8 

He continues : — 

"And when you wrote unto me by Mr. Flemynge, that I should 
acerten you, whether I thought the Abbas wt. the rest of the 
Nunys wolde be content to surrender up their house, the truthe 
is I doo percyve throwght the mocyon that yr. kinswomen and 
others yr. fryndes made for you the wil be content at all tymes to 
doo you any pleasure they may, but I perceyve they wolde be 
loth to trust to the commyssioners gentylnes rTor they heresay 
that other houses have been straytely handeled, and this fare you 
harteley well at Romesey the xxvmth day of December. John 
Foster, Rec." 



The Suppression. 



253 



Then follow the names of the Abbess Elizabeth Ryprose and 
twenty-five nuns. 

Names of the Convent of Romsey : — 



The letter seems to disclose a willingness on the part of 
the Convent to listen to terms. The visitor, Richard 
Layton, in a letter to Cromwell written this year, speaks of 
his departure towards Romsey. His letter bears no exact 
date, but the tone of Foster's letter of 28th December, 1538, 
implies that the Abbey had not then been visited ; if so, 
Layton's visit followed during the next three months, the 
year 1538 ending, according to the old reckoning, on 25th 
March of the year following. No account has survived as 
to the visitor's proceedings, nor as to the last days and 
suppression of the Abbey. It is, however, significant that 
in the deed of 1 544 by which the Crown made over the 
great church to the townsfolk the following passage occurs : 
"All and every of which premises {i.e., the church and 
ground surrounding it for twenty-four feet) came down 
to our hands by reason or pretext of a certain paper gift, 
concession and confirmation by the late Abbess and 
Convent of the said late Monastery to us the King), 
our heirs, and successors, thence made and given up, or by 
reason of the dissolution of the same late Monastery? This 
passage might seem to declare the voluntary surrender of 



Elizabeth Ryperose, Abbess. 
Edith Banester, Prioress. 
Katherine Waddham, Sub-Prss. 
Jane Waddham, Sextoness. 
Alys Whythynstall. 
Abell Howrelston. 
Jane Kersall. 
Agnes Pottenhall. 
Alys Gorphyer. 
Jane Clyfford. 



Margyt Parkyns. 
Margyt Dolman. 
Jelyan More. 
Bowne Pownde. 
Mawde Stronge. 
Mary Carell. 
Elysabeth Langryshe. 
Agnes Hall. 
Maryan Goddard. 
Alys Stanle. 
Katheryn Westwode. 
Avys Edmondes. 
Agnes Harvy. 



Anne Fox. 



Eliz. Hyll. 



Anne Butteler. 



254 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



the Convent, but the last phrase, and the absence of 
pensions as noticed above, points rather to a forcible 
suppression. 

About a year and a half after Foster's letter, Romsey is 
included in a list of houses voluntarily surrendered, in Court, 
with certain suppressed by Act of Parliament. These houses 
were Beaulieu, Southwick, Hide, Romsey, S. Swithun's, 
and S. Mary's, Winchester, Titchefeld, Wherwell, etc. 
(29th September, 1540). Here is nothing definite; more 
significant is a license issued in January, 1539, to the 
Abbess and Convent to alienate the lordship or manors of 
Edington and Steeple Ashton, etc., to Sir Thomas Seymour. 
This license to the Convent seems to imply weakness on 
the part of the Abbess ; perhaps she hoped by casting one 
great member of the estate to the wolves to buy off the 
rest. If so, she was mistaken. The Abbey was suppressed, 
but there seems to have been no unworthy surrender for 
private gain on the part of the Abbess. Elizabeth Ryprose 
and her sisters had no pensions, as they would have had if 
a voluntary surrender had been agreed to. 

The members of a suppressed monastery were much to 
be pitied, and the more so if they were of devout mind and 
believed conscientiously in their vows. Friends and relations 
might be found to give them a home, but a hearty welcome 
would be more than doubtful ; and in some cases they 
must have been driven to seek a livelihood in a world to 
which they were not accustomed. If a devout sister 
obtained an independence, the life in a regulated society 
was no longer open to her, and if she did her best to fulfil 
her vows, it can have been only accomplished in a modified 
form. Possibly in some cases the head of a disbanded 
monastery kept some of her sisters with her, in a quasi 
community life. The case of Abbess Elizabeth Shelley, of 
the Nunna Minster, Winchester, is worthy of notice. At 



The Suppression. 



255 



her death she left 20s. to each of seven nuns, who seem to 
have been her companions. 

The after-life of the Romsey sisters is unknown, with 
one exception. Jane Wadham,the daughter of Sir Nicholas 
mentioned above, obtained " capacity," as it was called, to 
return to the world. Her story is a strange one, and may 
best be told in the words of an old document : — 

Commission relating to Jane Wadham. 

nth June, 1541. — Commission to Cuthbert Bp. of Durham, 
Nicholas Bp. of Rochester, Thomas Bp. of Westminster, 

Horwood Attorney General and William Petre ll.d. to 

enquire concerning the petition of Jane Wadham alias Foster, 
who states that after arriving at years of discretion she was forced 
by threats and machinations of malevolent persons to become a 
regular nun in the house of nuns at Rumsey, but, having both in 
public and in private always protested against this seclusion, she 
conceived herself free from regular observance, and in that 
persuasion joined herself in matrimony with one John Foster 
"per verba de presenti," intending to have the marriage solemn- 
ized as soon as she was free from her " religion," and afterwards 
the same parties who had compelled her to become a nun induced 
the said John by their threats to become a priest ; which notwith- 
standing as soon as the said Jane was released from her vows, the 
marriage was solemnized in facie ecclesise and they lived together 
for sometime as man and wife, till certain malevolent persons 
aspersed their marriage as contrary to laws divine and human 
and caused her husband to deny his marital obligations. The 
commissioners are authorized to pronounce the marriage valid, 
if they shall so find it. 

The husband of this lady was without a doubt the same 
John Foster who was a receiver of rents for the Abbey, and 
the writer of the letter to Sir Thomas Seymour about the 
negotiations as to the surrender. 



256 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



He rented property at Baddesley, formerly belonging 
to the Knights Hospitallers, and lived there, and undoubtedly 
benefited in the scramble for the Abbey's lands. He con- 
tinued to occupy "the farm of a messuage with garden, 
dovecot, land, and pasture, in Romsey aforesaid, which 
Nicholas Wethers, chaplain, lately occupied as parcel of 
the chantry of the late Nicholas Braffeld ; to this was 
attached an annuity of £j. I2J." John Foster had been 
appointed to this orifice that he might celebrate divine 
service for the souls of Nicholas Braffeld and his wife 
within the parish church of Romsey for life ; and the 
emoluments were confirmed to him by the Court of 
Augmentation after the suppression, though the duties 
may very possibly have fallen into abeyance. 

He and his father, Thomas Foster, continued to receive 
stipends as stewards. To the latter the Court of Augmen- 
tation confirmed a lease for ninety-nine years made by the 
Abbess and Convent on the eve of the suppression, 10th 
July, 1538. The farm included various parcels of land, 
including Brodelande, Smalmede, Prestland, Stywardes- 
lande, Peryton, Shortesdydche, Langelande, eighty acres in 
Northgaston, Pastyry, Bycroft, Hille Feldes, Wodlee, 
Inslnesborough, Oxlease, Northynmore, and all other 
parcels of land within the parish of Romsey, with all 
coppice wood or timber growing within the said parcels of 
land, and common of pasture in the common pastures of 
the Monastery, with sheep, horses, and other animals, and 
in the said wood with pigs. The rent was £10, perhaps in 
modern money £120 a year. 

In spite of " malevolent persons," and the trouble they 
had at first to obtain recognition of their marriage, John 
Foster and his wife must have settled down quietly. He 
appears as the incumbent of Baddesley at the ecclesiastical 
visitation of 1543, together with Sir Robert, his curate, 



The Suppression. 



257 



and two laymen, William Cassett and another. Their 
family consisted of three children, Edward, Andrew, and 
Jane. Andrew married Barbara Abarrow, by whom he 
had a daughter Mary, who married an Edward Abarrow, 
and another daughter Audrey, who married Sir William 
Abarrow of North Charford, Southampton. Andrew 
Foster seems to have been extravagant and to have sold 
the property, and in Marsh's little book on Baddesley some 
rude lines, current in the neighbourhood, are quoted from 
an MS. written by Richard Morley of Hursley before 
1668. They run as follows, and the "rudeness" is 
explained of his extravagance in selling the estate, a 
rough wasteful fellow one must suppose : — 

" Mr. Foster of Baddesley was a good man 
Before the marriage of priests began, 
For he was the first that married a nun, 
For which he begat a very rude son." 

Mr. Foster appears to have been still living in 1556-7. 

The fortunes of the Abbey estate immediately after the 
Suppression and some notes on tenants and owners will be 
given in the next chapter. It is impossible to close this 
chapter without some words of reflection on the history of 
the great Abbey. The House in the early days had been 
great by reason of its piety, great, too, as an establishment 
in which education was highly prized, great also in its 
wealth and influence and by reason of its members, who 
were often of noble birth and sometimes of royal descent ; 
but it had fallen, and fallen not only as with many other 
houses, by reason of social changes, but also deservedly by 
reason of the moral obliquity of its members. Dr. Gasquet 
says that out of thirteen counties the Commissioners 
Layton and Legh found only twenty-seven nuns, in all, 
charged with vice and even of these all but ten received 
pensions. Romsey, it must be confessed, was one of the 

s 



258 Records of Romsey Abbey. 

houses which could have given some colour to the charges 
of bad living which were so freely and, broadly speaking, 
so unjustly fastened upon religious houses. It would be a 
grave error for anyone to rise up from reading of Romsey's 
fall and conclude that the whole system was bad. No 
doubt there were too many religious houses in England, 
and the number required diminishing ; no doubt a good 
deal of reform and revival was needed ; no doubt in some 
cases the funds might well have been diverted to other 
religious and educational objects. But the wholesale 
sweeping away of the monastic establishments was both 
a crime and an error, and especially in the case of establish- 
ments for women. The education of young women, the 
opportunities for a distinct sphere of work in life for 
unmarried women, the definite life of self-dedication to 
Christ's service, with its power of continual intercession 
and witness, were swept away at one stroke. 

The dissolution of 1100 religious houses for monks and 
nuns, and the absorption of £140,745. 6s. 2d. (or possibly 
^"2,800,000 modern value) cannot be viewed by any im- 
partial mind otherwise than with feelings of astonishment 
and shame. Nor was this all, men and, to a greater 
degree, women, many of them devoted to their religious 
profession, and innocent of crime, were subjected to suffer- 
ings of all kinds, by being suddenly cast upon the world. 
For many, both immediately before and directly after the 
Suppression, the times must have appeared dark indeed. 
So Romsey Monastery passed away ; happily for suc- 
ceeding generations the great and beautiful church was 
rescued by the townsfolk as is described in a deed which 
now hangs in the south vestry. 



PEDIGREES OF WADHAM AND FOSTER. 



Sir John Wadham =j= Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Stephen Popham. 

r 



Sir John =j= Elizabeth Stukeley. 
i 



.r 

Sir Nicholas =7= (1) Joan, daughter of Robert Hill of Antony and Halsway. 

(2) Margaret, daughter* of Sir John Seymour, and sister of 
Q. Jane Seymour, and Sir Thomas Seymour. 



I 

John =f= Joan Tregarthin. Nicholas. 
© 1583, [Widow 
of John Kalewayf 
of Rockburne.] 



I I 

Jane =f= Iohn Foster Katharine. 

[Nun at of Baddes- [Nun at 

Romsey.] ley. Romsey.] 



Nicholas = Dorothy. 
© 1609. 

[Founders of Wadham 
College, Oxford.] 



Edward. 



+- 

I 

Andrew 



Barbara Jane. 
Abarrow. 



r 1 

Mary = Edward Audrey = Sir William 
Abarrow. Abarrow. 



* B.M. Harl. MS. 1385, p. 33, says "sister of Sir John S.," but this appears to 
be a mistake. 

f Inherited Rockburne from the "de Romeseyes" through the Binghams. 



To face page 258. 



The Suppression. 



259 



REFERENCES. 

Episcopal Registers of Winchester. 
Letters and Papers of Henry VIII. 
Deed in Romsey Vestry. 

Ecclesiastical Visitation of Hants. B. M. Add. 12,483. 
Miscellaneous Books, Court of Augmentations, Vol. 102, p. 51. 



CHAPTER XV. 



" AFTERWARDS." 



" The old order changeth, yielding place to new, 
And God fulfils Himself in many ways, 
Lest one good custom should corrupt the world." 

Tennyson, Morte Arthur. 



Chapter XV. 



afterwards; 



FTER the suppression of a monastery, the conventual 



buildings were, as a rule, demolished or greatly- 
modified. At Romsey some of the buildings were retained 
for the use of the tenants of the farms into which the 
property was divided. It would be a matter of no slight 
interest to reconstruct the plan of the Abbey buildings as 
they stood on the eve of the suppression ; this, however, 
cannot be accurately done without some extended excava- 
tions, which have not at present been undertaken. If, 
however, the plan of a Benedictine house be borne in 
mind, and some notes about the Romsey Convent, found 
in contemporary documents, be gathered together, a general 
view of the buildings may be arrived at. 

The cloister lay to the south side of the great church ; 
the corbels which supported the side of the cloister roof, 
abutting on the south aisle, are still visible. On the 
opposite and south side of the cloister, traces of the frater 
might be looked for ; and here, in one of the present 
dwelling-houses, the walls are of such a thickness as to leave 
no doubt that they formed part of the original building, 
perhaps the undercroft or cellars of the frater. The kitchen 
would have been close by, and probably to the south of the 
frater. The kitchen window looked into the outer court of 
the monastery, and in the days of slack discipline became 




264 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



the means of communication between some of the sisters 
and idle acquaintances. 

To the west of the frater the Abbess seems to have had 
her separate apartments. The Abbess's lodging is said, in 
Bishop Waynflete's Register, to have had one door towards 
the court (i.e., the Curia, or outer court), and one towards 
the hall {i.e., the guest hall), which latter may therefore 
have stood on the west side of the cloister. The Abbess's 
lodging is also spoken of as having an upstairs -and inner 
chamber between an upstairs oratory or chapel and the 
great upstairs chamber of the Abbess. After the sup- 
pression, a reference is made by the King's Bailiff, in 
his account roll, to " Chabbey's lodging," meaning " the 
Abbess's lodging." This is the description : — 

" Farm of the site of the late Abbey with a dwelling-house 
called Chabbey's lodginge, containing 51 feet in length (between 
a hall called the Householde Halle 1 ) from the west end of the 
same to the chapel of S. Peter at the East end of the said house, 
together with the said chapel, a kitchen, granary, stable, and a 
new barn in a court called the 'utter courte of the monastery.' " 

From this reference to the Abbess's lodging, it may be 
assumed that her separate apartments stood to the west 
of the frater, and the chief rooms would seem to have 
been upstairs. The upstairs chapel may then perhaps be 
identified with the Chapel of S. Peter. There are several 
references to the Abbess's private oratory in the Episcopal 
Registers. 

The usual site of the Chapter House was to the east 
of the cloister, and parallel with the south transept of the 
Church. The nuns' dorter or dormitory probably stood on 
this side of the cloister and at right angles to the frater. 

Beyond the east side of the cloister there was a garden, 
the wall of which reached to within some yards of the 

1 This is crossed out in the original document. 



" Afterwards." 



265 



outer gateway into the market place. Just beyond the 
eastern wall of this garden, and between it and the gate, 
and perhaps standing back some sixty feet, with an alley 
twenty-six feet wide approaching it, stood the Clerk's or 
Chaplain's house, and to the rear of this and possibly 
extending to the Lady Chapel, was the Paradise, with a 
stream of water flowing through it. This stream is now 
covered in, and runs at the back of the houses facing the 
Market Place. The King's Bailiff says : — 

"A tenement commonly called the 'Clerkes Chamber,' with 
all chambers, houses, and buildings between the said tenement 
and the stone wall of the outer gate of the monastery, and a 
parcel of the said outer court, containing 60 ft. in length from the 
end of the said stone wall to the end of the wall of the garden 
called ' Chabbes Garden,' and 26 feet in breadth, and a parcel of 
land at the end of the said tenement called ' Paradise,' containing 
. ... in length from the said tenement to the water course in 
the parcel called Paradise, including a part of the same water." 

Over the gateway there were chambers, and annexed 
to the gate was a tenement called the " Receyvours 
lodginge," for the use of the officer who received the rents 
of the Abbey, or in other words, the Steward of the 
Monastery. 

There must have been a general scramble for the site 
and lands of the Abbey, which were either sold or let on 
lease. A part of the site, together with Tappesham and 
other meadows, was let to Francis Flemmynge, Esq. ; the 
Clerke's Chamber to Peter Westbroke, Esq., one of the 
under-stewards, and possibly a kinsman of the Abbess 
Anne Westbroke. The gatehouse was leased to John 
Richards. Significant notes are made against several of 
the properties, thus: — "The said demesne lands for Richard 
Lister, Kt." This is the case with Brodelande, Smalmede, 
Prestland, Stywardesland, Peryton, Shortesdych, Lange- 



266 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



lande, eighty acres in Northgaston, Pastyry, Bycroft, Hill 
Feldes, Wodlee, Inslnesborough, Oxlease, and Northyn- 
more. A similar note is found against Luzborough, and 
also against the gatehouse, and with reference to the Manor 
of More Abbot and More Malwyn, then leased to Richard 
Dowce. 

A reference has already been made to Sir Richard 
Lister as living at Stanbridge in 1522, and as the writer of a 
letter to Cromwell on 15th Sep., 1538, warning him that the 
Abbess and Convent were alienating their property. He 
was made Solicitor General, 1522 — 1526, and Chief Baron 
of the Exchequer in 1530. He is spoken of as residing at 
Southampton in 1545, and he is described as Lord Chief 
Justice of the Common Pleas in 1 546. He was buried at 
S. Michael's, Southampton, 17th March, 1554, having died 
on the 14th March. An old MS. of 17 19 thus describes 
his tomb : — 

"In the aforesaid dormitory (i.e., sleeping place of the de- 
parted) against the south part lyes on a handsome stone tomb, 
the figure of a judge on his back, dressed in scarlet, a collar of 
S.S. round his breast, a judge's cap on his head, and a book in 
his right hand. On a sort of cornice supported by three pillars, 
there is this remnant of an inscription : — 

'Et dicto Elizabeth hoc in viduetate 
sua curavit, 18 die Marcie, 1567.'" 

It is said that the Manor of Romsey Extra continued 
whole in the King's hands till July, 1558, except the part 
in Wiltshire granted to Sir Thomas Seymour. A grant in 
fee for £900, however, was made to Messrs. Foster and 
Marden, 17th December, 1544. It included lands in 
Wellow and Romsey, which had been in the tenure of 
Sir Richard Lyster, Chief Baron of the Exchequer. The 
Manor of Romsey Extra included the profit of two annual 
fairs and a very long list of messuages is appended. The 
site of the Monastery (i.e., Romsey Infra) was granted to 



" Afterwards." 



267 



Messrs. Bellowe and Biggot, by letters patent dated 28th 
January, 1547, and these gentlemen made a grant to Sir 
Francis Flemynge. 

Amongst the records of the Duchy of Lancaster of 
the year 1607, there occur the depositions of a number of 
witnesses with reference to Sir Francis Fleming's rights in 
the two manors of Romsey Infra and Extra. They say 
that he had the Infra manor by inheritance, and that the 
Extra manor was granted to him by letters patent in the 
time of Philip and Mary ; this was on the 18th July, 1558. 
One witness had heard that the grant was for forty years, 
for which he paid £40 a year, apparently a lease ; but his 
son William, who had lately died [in 1606], seems to have 
continued the holding. Much of the evidence relates to 
some woods near Rownhams, and as the account of the 
boundaries preserves several local names, some notes are 
worth inserting : — 

(1.) "From Roonam's gate, leading westwards to a gutter 
which goeth downe to three laakes, and from these three laakes 
leading northwards through the woods to Julian's well, and from 
Julian's well to Maggett's Corner." 

(2.) " Maggett's Corner and a lake running between Hol- 
borne wood and Coome wood-Julian's well. Two lakes, the one 
of the south and the other of the north, which meeting, divide the 
woods called Holborne wood from Coome wood ; Coome wood 
being on the east and Holborne on the west." 

(3.) "Austrey wood, bounded on the west by Lee Greene 
and on the north by Bell's meade, and so upwards to the highway 
leading between Hampton and Romsey, which highway is bounded 
by Austrey and Holborne woods. Austrey wood bounded upon 
a peece of ground of Mr. Paulett's and another called White, upon 
the south side. The highway from Hampton to Romsey bounds 
Holborne wood on the east side, and on the south to Mr. Mills' 
land, and so upwards to a piece of arable land, part whereof is 
the Dean of Windsor's and part Mr. Richard Mills', and so 



268 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



leading to a hedge almost to Rownams gate, and so leading to 
three gutters or springs, and from them northwards to Julian's 
well and so to Maggett's Corner, and from there downe a highway 
to Austrey Crosse." 

(4.) Mention is made of Border Crosse, White Corner, 
Hartegreen and Lingedon Hill. 

(5.) The witnesses say that they know of trees being cut for 
wood and fuel used for making and repairing the beacon called 
Totehill Beacon. This hill is the high point of the neighbour- 
hood, having ancient entrenchments adjoining; it is marked 
" Telegraph " in the older maps, and no doubt served for a signal 
station for a great number of years. 

There are a number of other grants quoted by Mr. 
Latham, or to be found in the books of the Court of 
Augmentations in the Public Record Office. These grants 
would be of value in tracing out the descent of properties, 
whenever a sketch of the later history of Romsey is written. 

The King presented John Mason to the Prebend of 
Tymesbury on the 28th May, 1540; this he resigned on 
the 7th April, 1546. In 1541 Sir Roger Taylor was Curate 
of Tymesbury, having his stipend from William Mody. 
This Prebend was apparently shorn of its titles and 
perhaps of its revenues, for formerly it was called the 
Prebend of S. Laurence the Greater, having Tymesbury 
and Imber attached to it. This year, in May, 1541, the 
Rectory was granted to the Dean and Chapter of "the 
royal college of the Holy Trinity, Winchester," and 
according to Mr. Latham they granted the Parsonage {i.e., 
Rectory) to Sir Francis Flemynge, 17th November, 1542. 
The Dean and Chapter do not seem to have obtained the 
patronage of the Vicarage at once. The old Vicar, John 
Newman, who lived all through the troublous times, was 
ill in 1543, but he lived on till 1547, when Walter Morys 
was appointed Vicar on 16th March. The patron on this 
occasion, and for this turn only, being Richard Wynslade, 



" Afterwards." 



269 



to whom this privilege was deputed by the late Receiver 
of the Abbey, Thomas Foster, in virtue of an advowson 
made to him by the late Abbess and Convent, then patrons. 
On 6th September, 1558, the Dean and Chapter appointed 
Thomas Chester as Vicar, and thus exercised their right 
of patronage, which they continued to do till the time of 
Bishop Thorold, when by an exchange Romsey Vicarage 
came into the hands of the Bishop. 

In 1 541 John Payne is described as Curate of Romsey, 
having his stipend from Master John Newman, Vicar. At 
the same time some clerical office was filled by Sir Nicholas 
Withers, having his stipend from Elinora Segwyke, 1 widow. 
This Nicholas Withers had been chaplain of the chantry 
of Nicholas Braffeld, occupying a messuage with garden, 
dovecot, land and pasture attached to this chantry. 

Besides Sir John Payne and Sir Nicholas Withers there 
were two other clerics at Romsey who presented them- 
selves at the ecclesiastical Visitation of 1543, viz., Sir 
Thomas Bardolf and Sir William Tomys. In addition to 
the clergy there were present eleven laymen, described as 
Jurati : — John Hancocke, Robert Rolff, 2 Christopher Short, 
Simon Clerk, Walter Carter, 3 William Newman, Walter 
Bayly, William Purfyshe, Robert Burnham, 4 William 
Blowes, 5 and William Sandley. John Hancocke died 
about the end of 1 549, leaving a house in Chervill Street 
which he had lately bought of William Burnett, merchant, 
of Southampton. Simon Clerke lived on till 1557; an 
account of his will may be deferred to a later page. 

A very important event took place on 20th February, 
1 544, for which the town of Romsey cannot be too grateful ; 
so important, indeed, was the transaction effected on that 
day, that its anniversary might very properly be kept. 

1 The Segwykes were kinsfolk of John Bull the Mercer, who died 1540. 
2 Husbandman. 3 Farmer. 4 Miller. 5 Clothier. 



270 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



Up to the suppression in 1539, the town had been rather 
the appendage of the Abbey, which exercised lordship 
over it, though the town had evidently sought and attained 
some sort of separate existence, as may be seen from the 
history of its guilds described in Chapter XL From the 
year 1539 the town stood alone, and it speedily showed 
its vitality by the important transaction of 1544, when the 
townsfolk bought the great Church from the Crown for 
£100, say £1200 of present day money. Four men, 
Robert Cook, John Salt, 1 John Ham, and John Knight, 
are described in the deed as " Guardians of the Church of 
Romsey." John Knyght died about the end of the year 
1549, leaving 6s. Sd. for the repair of the Parish Church, 
and requesting his friend, John Ham, to be one of the 
overseers of his will. John Salte, yeoman, made his will 
29th July, 1554, and died about the close of the year. 

The townspeople obtained from the Crown at the 
beginning of Queen Mary's reign (c. 1554), one or two 
articles of Church plate, a mere trifle indeed of what had 
been seized, but still worth having. A " Crismatori of 
silver, one littel Bottell of silver and one littell Cuppe of 
silver," were delivered to Robert Beare, John Raynolde, 
and John Levermore. Robert Bere was a husbandman, 
and one of the Levermores was a smith. 

Another matter seems to have engaged the attention of 
the townsfolk at this time. Hitherto the bells had hung 
in a tower separate from the Church, and situate to the 
north of the Church, on a plot of ground east of the great 
churchyard. This plot still yields an income of £6, which, 
at the present time, is appropriated to the Churchwardens' 
Funds. It was now apparently resolved, owing perhaps to 
the unsafe condition of the tower, or to the inconvenience of 
having the belfry away from the Church and to the cost of its 

1 Tanner. 



" Afterwards." 



271 



upkeep, to remove and rehang the bells in the great tower. 
Sir Francis Fleming in 1558 makes this entry in his will, 
" I give to the Church of Rumsey, towards the hanging of 
the bells in the tower, 20s! 1 Simon Clerke had already, in 
1557, left 13-r. /\d. for the like purpose. Mr. Latham says 
that the rehanging of the bells was not accomplished till 
1624, and quotes a passage from one of the Church 
Registers to this effect: — "This year [1624] were the bells 
hung up in the tower, a little before Christmas, and in the 
January following was the old belfry taken down ; J. Cooper 
and William Elderfield, Churchwardens." Either, therefore, 
the work was delayed for sixty-seven years, or the bells at 
the earlier date were rehung in the old tower. 

A serious loss must have occurred to the poorer folk 
of the town by the suppression of the alms men and 
women, or pensioners of the Abbey. This Charity, it will 
be remembered, was made by King Edgar when the Abbey 
was refounded in 967. A reference is made to it by the 
King's bailiff in his Account Roll of 1539-41, he says: — 

"In alms yearly distributed between 13 poor and feeble 
women, by the foundation of King Edgar, late founder of the 
monastery, allowed in the King's book of tithes for 13 women 
at 40/- each, allowance this year by consideration of the King's 
officers ^13." 

In the next year he allows £10, three having died, and 
the same allowance is made in the year following for ten 
women, " as appears by a bill in the hands of Peter West- 
broke and Francis Flemyng." 

A similar entry deals with seven old and feeble men, 
who have £j the first year, £6 the next year, " the 7th 
being dead," and 110s. is allowed the year following, with 
the explanation that it is for six men, " of whom one died 
before the feast of the Nativity of S. John the Baptist 
within the time of this account." It is evident that this 



272 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



ancient gift was to be allowed to die out, and that the town 
was no longer to benefit by the charity. It is astonishing 
that the Crown should have swept away even this small 
and purely charitable institution to satisfy its greed. 

The two accompanying lists have been preserved with 
the account. The first may be supposed to be a list of 
the women of King Edgar's foundation ; the second, a list 
of the inhabitants of the Hospital of S. Mary Magdalene 
and S. Anthony, referred to in Chapter XII, p. 204. 

Augmentation Office. — Miscellaneous Books. 
No. 446, Folio I. 



The Namys of the poure 

J one Carpendore. 
Margery Ridare. 
Elyzabeth Smok. 1 
Marget Pursse. 
Joane Crede. 
Joane Houbis. 

Isabelle Novell. 
Joane Arnolde. 
Flowrance Anc. 
Elyzsabeth Sadfeld.2 

Edmonde Heliars. 

The poure almysse men and 

Wyllyam Hunt. 
Robart Wernell. 
Wyllyam Homys. 
Wyllyam Yngram. 
Katerine Holbourne. 3 
Isabelle Bryone. 



Systeres of Rumsay. 
Jone Carpenter. 
Margery Rede. 
Elizabeth Smok. 
Margery Purse. 
Jone Crede. 
Mortua est. 

Mortua est post Festum. 

Annunciacionis beate Marie. 

Jone Arnold. 

Mortua. 



Mortua est post Festum. 

Annunciacionis beate Marie. 
wemen of the Spetyll. 

Mortuus est post Festum. 

Annunciacionis beate Marie. 
Robertus Vernell. 
Willelmus Holme. 
William Yngram. 
Katheryne Holbourne. 
Mortua est. 



Three lists of tax-payers, one of 1524-5, another of 
1544, and another of 1549, give the names of many 



1 Altered from Rope. 2 Nota, lately putt in. 

3 Altered from Kynge. 



" Afterwards." 



273 



Romsey families at this time. The first list gives 163 
names, and the tax seems to have been levied from a 
wider class of inhabitants than on the later occasions. 
Six wage-earners of £1 apiece were taxed and paid \d. 
each, a class of men not found in the other lists. In 
1544 there were 42 tax-payers in the district, including 
Romsy Extra, and the hamlets of Woberye, Lee, Kepern- 

ham, , and Roke, together with 29 persons in the 

town, giving a total of only 71. In 1549 only 29 persons 
are named, and the class of taxpayers is still further limited. 
This latter list is of especial interest because it gives the 
occupations of the tax-payers, which include a smith, a 
wheeler, three clothiers, a miller, a tanner, two tailors, two 
butchers, a cosier (*>., cobbler), three gentlemen, two 
farmers, and six husbandmen. It may be worth recollecting 
that in 1340 there were but 16 tax-payers in Romsey 
Extra, and 56 in Romsey Infra, making a total of 72, as 
against a total of 71 in 1544; but no inference can be 
drawn as to the rise or fall of the population, owing to the 
variation of classes from which the taxes were drawn. 

The following table gives some particulars of the three 
lists of the sixteenth century : — 



Name. 
1524-5. 

Dowce, Richard 



Highest Assessment. 

£ s d 

60 o o 



Lowest Assessment. 

£ s d 



Several persons ... — — ... 100 ... 004 
1544. 

Dowse, John ... 30 o o ... — — ... 300 

Smyth, Edward ... — — ... 1 6 8 ... o 2 8 
1549. 

Kyrby, John ... 40 o o ... — — ... 200 

Several persons ... — — ... 10 o o ... o 10 o 

The two persons, John Dowse (assessed on lands), and 
John Kyrby, are spoken of as gentlemen, and with refer- 
ence to their assessments and to the value of money and 
the cost of a household it may be worth referring to the 



Tax. 
S 

o 



274 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



well-known description by Hugh Latimer (born 1490) of 
the household of his father, a Leicestershire yeoman. 1 The 
latter farmed land at a rent of £$-£4, for which his suc- 
cessor had to pay £16 (or four times the amount), in 1549, 
the date of the Romsey tax-payers' list. From this farm 
he " tilled so much as kept half-a-dozen men." His wife 
milked thirty kine ; he had a walk for 100 sheep. He 
could give his daughters at their marriage £$ or 20 nobles 
each. He sent his son to school, and gave alms to the 
poor, and all this he did of the same farm. At a rather 
earlier date, the Black Book of Edward IV (0 1483) 
gives the household accounts of a squire who can spend 
£50 a year : — 

£ s d 

Victuals 24 6 o 

Repairs and furniture 500 

Horses, hay, carriages 400 

Clothes, alms, and oblations 400 

Chaplain, 2 yeomen, 2 grooms, 2 boys, in wages ... 900 
Livery of dress ... ... ... ... ... 2 10 o 

Hounds, and charges of hay-time and harvest, etc. 140 

£50 o o 

John Dowse, the Romsey tax-payer, mentions in his 
will, proved 6th February, 1559, the manor of Chilworth, 
and "my manors of Sparshott magna and parva," and 
makes reference to interest he had in other places. At the 
date of the Romsey tax-payers' list, 1 549, rents had indeed 
quadrupled since the time of Hugh Latimer's father, but 
John Dowse, with his £30 assessment and his freehold 
or tenancy of other properties was a man of comfortable 
competency, and may well have been able to spend on his 
household a sum perhaps exceeding the disbursement of the 
£50 squires of the earlier date. Richard Dowce, probably 
his father, had farmed the lands at More Courte and More 
Malens in 1539, paying £22. \2s. a year rent to the Crown ; 

1 See Stubbs' Constihitional History, Vol. III. 



" Afterwards." 



275 



here the son John continued to live, and an interesting 
glimpse of the manner of living of a gentleman, and one of 
the chief inhabitants of Romsey, is suggested to the mind 
of the student. 

Some matters of interest are to be gleaned from the 
old wills of this period. Winchester College, it appears, 
held property in Romsey ; this fact is mentioned as early 
as 1494, when William Molens leaves to his eldest son 
John the remainder of the lease of his house in the Market 
Place, which he holds of Lord Awdeley, and his dye-house 
and stable in Porter's Bridge, which he holds of the New 
College of Winchester. 

Again in the will of John Bull, mercer of Romsey, who 
died in 1540, the College is mentioned. The worthy 
mercer had houses in Mydill Brige Strete and dwelt in 
a house in the Market Place. He also owned a house 
which John Judson the taylor had lately occupied ; the 
latter he leaves to his sister Elizabeth Wellis, together with a 
coverlet "whereon was worked the salutation of our Lady." 
He speaks of John Mollins as his brother, and mentions as 
in the above will the Winchester College ground. " All 
my timber that lyeth at the porte brige, which is the ground 
that longeth unto the New College of Winton, should be 
bestowed among my housing (houses) in Rumsey." 

Winchester College also held property in the south of 
the town. The tenement of Robert Burnham, the miller, 
is described, 17th December, 1544, as in " Mille Strete 
between the tenements of Wade Manor and the lands of 
Winchester College." As early as 1453 the College was 
assessed to pay a tax of 4.?. on goods and chattels in the 
town of Romsey. 

The will of John Salt, yeoman, contains references to 
familiar place-names in the town. He died in 1555, and 



276 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



the will was proved on 3rd May. " His pewke gown furred 
with lambe, his jacket of cloth, and dublet of lether," may 
serve to conjure up before the imagination an old world 
figure who lived in that strange transition period from the 
old to the modern world. His daughter Agnes, it appears, 
and her husband John Kychener had died in 1539, and left 
their children John, Thomas, and Agnes, to the care and 
governance of John Salt and his wife Elizabeth, their 
grandparents. It is not therefore surprising to find that, 
when the grandfather John died, he left much of his 
property to his two grandsons. To John came the half an 
acre of arable land, once Cecilie Pope's, lying behind 
Langeton's house in the tythinge of Maynson, and one acre 
of meadow in Euy betwixt the land of the said John on 
the north side. To Thomas came a house in Middlebridge 
Street, sometime Sampson's, lying at the Bridge End, 
together with one close bought by John Salt of Lord 
Audeley, lying in the back side of the said house ; also 
another close lying without the bridge, which had been 
bought of Master Foster, sometime the holding of William 
Apowell. In addition to these there was another close, 
lying to the back side of the house at Bridge End beyond 
John Kychener's Orchard, also purchased of Master J. 
Foster, and property held by indenture of Lord Chidiok 
Pawlet, 1 and an acre of meadow in Walding, and an acre 
of land in Wollynfelde. 

Simon Clerk, whose name is found in the lists of tax- 
payers of 1544 and 1549, died early in 1558. His will has 
a very special interest for the town, because in it, for the 
first time, there is a reference to the Mayor. If his sons or 
son have no issue, his house in Middlebridge, Arnold's 
house and orchard, and the orchard joining unto Robert 
Bull's house are to remain to the parish. The Mayor and 
Constables are alwaies to see the yearly rent thereof to be 

1 Buried at Eling. 



THE NAVE, FROM THE SANCTUARY, 

o face p. 276. J 



" Afterwards." 



277 



bestowed, the one half to the poor, the other half to help 
out yearly an obit for him, his wife and friends for ever. 
Another will, that of John Browne, dated 14th May, 1578, 
gives the name of an early Mayor. " I give," he says, 
" unto William Pratt, now Mayor, my best sword, unto 
Nicholas Cowse my harqubus with flash and tuche box." 
He also leaves 35-. 4a 1 . to the repairs of Romsey church, 
showing that interest was still taken in their parish church 
by the parishioners. 

This slight study of the wills of old residents must 
draw to an end, and may fittingly close with a full transcript 
of the will of Sir Francis Flemyng, who figures so largely 
in connection with the occupation of the Abbey property 
after the Suppression. Sir Francis is described as a lieu- 
tenant of ordnance in 1549. He was no doubt connected 
with the Flemings of Newport, I.W., one of whom, John, 
died in 1 531, and another, Sir Thomas Fleming, who was 
born at Newport in 1544, became Lord Chief Justice, and 
bought Baddesley from one of the Fosters, and afterwards 
North Stoneham from the Earls of Southampton. Sir 
Francis lived at Broadlands, and his immediate relations, 
as described in his will, may be set out as follows : — 

r 1 

Anne = Walshe. Sir Francis =p Jane. 



William =f= Jane. Michael. Mabel = . . . Turkington. 

© 1606. I © 1613. 



— j 

Frances = Edward S. Barbe, 

married of Ashington, Somst., 

1 586. and Sheriff in 1589. 

It will be seen that Sir Francis' granddaughter, Frances, 
the heiress of the property, brought Broadlands to the 



278 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



family of S. Barbe, with which family it remained for some 
time, but their history belongs to a later period. 

Will of Sir Francis Flemynge. 
August 24TH, 1558. 

I, Francis Flemyng, of brode Landes, Rumsey, knt, being 
syrke in bodye and perffytt of Remembrance and memorye, 
Lawde and prayse be to almighty God y Do ordayne and make 
this my last will and testament in manner and form following. 
And all other wylles before Thys Tyme made I doe nowe make 
ffrustrate and voyde. 

Fyrsten, I yeld and offer up my sowle unto Almightye God my 
onely maker and Redemer, and my bodye to be buried within 
the Churche of S. Lawerence, Rumsey. 

Item, I bequest unto my mother Church or S*. Swythin's in 
Wynchester, 3/4. Item, I bequest unto the Hye Aulter of my 
sayd parrysh Churche for Tythes forgotten, 5^. Also I b : and 
give to the Churche of Rumsey towards the hanginge of the bells 
in the Tower, 20/-. 

Item, I give and b. unto Dame Jane, my wyfe, in money, 
^"115 and my maner house of Brodelandes, Rumsey, with all the 
hole stuff in it. And half my plate. Also I give to my seyd wife 
the occupation of my lease of Staryeffrythe during her life and after 
her death the same to remain to my heir being Lord of Brode- 
landes, Rumsey. Item, more I give unto my said wife 12 Kyne 
and a Bull, the whyche are goinge at Brodelands. Item, I give 
to my said wife 3 of my geldinges. And also I gyve to my s d . 
wife all the woodes and underwoodes, that nowe be or hereafter 
shall be growen within and upon my ferme of Rownams, to be 
expended in and upon the maner house of brodelands, and not 
ells wheare with lawful ingresse and regresse to and for the felling 
and caryinge of ye same. And more, all my corne, provyded 
that she shall deliver YVyllyam Fleming 10 quarters of wheate, 
10 q ts barley, 5 q ts ottes, thereof. And all the same corne to 
be delyvered one this side of mydsommer next coming after the 
date before written. Further, I give and b. to my wife 13 fat 



" Afterwards." 



279 



bullocks and 40 fat sheep, the wh. was ordained for the provision 
of my house. Also I g. and b. to my wife half of the swyne and 
pullarye that is at my Deyryt. 

Also I g. and b. to my son, Mychaell Flemynge, £100 in 
money and £10 rente by the yere of socage Lande in South- 
ampton, to him and his heirs males of his bodye to be gotten. 
Also I b. unto my daughter, Mabel Turkington, £20. Item, I 
will that my sister, Anne Walshe, shall holde and enjoy the house 
with the Myllen and all and singular the grounds, wh. she the 
said Anne now holdeth and occupyeth by lease from me, grant d 
during her natural life without pay* of any rent for the same. 
Provided that if the s d Anne Walshe shall happen at any time 
durs her life to be expulsed, evicted, or put out of the s d house, 
Myllen, or gr ds , or any part or parcel of the same, that then I 
will that my s d Executor and his Heirs and Assigns shall pay 
yearly unto ye s d Anne during all her life one Annuity or yearly 
rente of £6. 13s. \d. by the year. Also I b. to Edmond Bull and 
his wife 40/- in money by the year. To be paid to the longest 
liver of them by my son, Wylliam Flemyng and his heirs, executors 
or Assigns. Item, I give unto my niece, Dorothy Bull, ;£io in 
money, and to her sister, Jone, 5 marks in money towards their 
maryages. 

Item, to my cousyn Marg* Bonnam, £20 in money towards 
her maryadge. Item, I give unto Eliz. Mate, my servaunte, the 
reversion of the nexte copeyeholde that falleth in my landes or 
of the Quenes landse. To be of her choice which of them she 
will take. Item, unto Th. Somershall, my servant, a stere 
bullock and a cowe bullock of 2 years of age. Item, Nic. 
Rumeryll, my ser* [a ditto]. Item, to Marg* Dyrche a quarter 
of wheat, to be del d by the assigment of my wiff upon the day 
of my burial. Item, to every man and woman ser* at the deyrye 
26/8 a piece in mony besyde their quarters wages. [Ditto] in the 
house of Brodelands 40/-. Item, to Raffe Browne and John 
Fygge 40/-. And all the residue of my goodes and cattells 
both moveable and unmoveable not bequeathed, my legaces per- 
formed and fulfilled and my debts paid, I give unto my sonne 



280 Records of Romsey Abbey. 



Will, fflemynge, whom I make my sole executor. And he for 
to dyspose them for the wealthe of my soul as it shall please 
Almigthy God for to put in his minde. 

Item, I will my Executors to give 8 gold ringes of 20/- to be 
distributed as follows : — 

1. Sir William Keylewey, kt. 

2. M r Ric. Gyfforde, Esq. 

3. „ Geo. Mylle. 

4. „ Th. Pare, esq. 

5. „ Worsley. 

6. Mystres Geo. Myll. 

7. M r Th. Mylle. 

8. Mystres Walloppe. 

And for the due and trew execution of this my laste wyll and 
Testament I do make and ordein Sir Will. Kelwey, kt., and Ric. 
Gyfforde, Esq., to be my overseers, and they to have for their 
pains each one of my best geldings. Etc., etc. 

Witneses — William Kelwey, kt., Richard Gyfforde, W. Fleming, 
George Kyrbye, H. Somershall, RalrT Browne, Nic. Rumeryll. 
Probate — 9 Sep., 1558. 

No one who studies old wills from about 1490 to 1600 
can fail to be struck by the gulf that lies between the 
earlier and later ones. The bequests to the guilds in the 
earlier series mark the strong corporate life which centred 
round the parish church ; these bequests cease in the later 
wills, and whilst piety finds, at least in some cases, other 
channels for alms deeds, like the poor men's box, or the 
erection of almshouses, corporate life must have gradually 
been transferred from the church to the town hall, and 
have partaken of a civic character. 

No churchmen can but regret the decay of church 
brotherhoods, the recovery of which has been slow and 
long delayed. It may be that in the Divine providence 
this has issued and will issue in a more spiritual conception 



" Afterwards." 



281 



of the ties which bind churchmen together, and that 
through much tribulation they are entering into a fuller 
participation in the Kingdom of God. The townsfolk of 
Romsey, in any case, have continued, in spite of periods 
of neglect, to show their care for the great building around 
which church life has centred for so many centuries. 

A large number of Romsey wills are preserved at 
Somerset House, and a far larger number, belonging to the 
Bishop's and Archdeacon's Courts, are to be found at the 
Probate Registry at Winchester. A careful inspection of 
these wills, of the parish registers, which begin as early 
as 1569, of deeds in the town hall, and of the collections of 
Dr. Latham, together with many classes of documents in 
the Record Office, would form an excellent introduction 
and starting point for a future volume on the history of 
Romsey town during modern times. It is to be hoped 
that some enthusiastic townsman may be found to under- 
take what should prove if a laborious, yet a pleasant and 
interesting task. 



REFERENCES. 

Archaeological Institute, Vol. for 1845. 

Mr. Latham's Collections, B.M. Add. 26,774-26,780. 

Letters and Papers Henry VIII. 

B.M. Add. 34,137, Stipends of Priests, Winton Diocese. 

B.M. Add. 12,483, Eccles. Visitation of Hants. 

Winchester and Canterbury Wills. 

Deed of Sale in Romsey Vestry. 

Record Office, Church goods restored, No. 1392, 60. 

Record Office, Miscellaneous Books of Augmentation Office, No. 446. 

Record Office, Lay Subsidy Rolls, Nos. 173/183, 173/215, and 174/307 • 



MAP OF ROMSEY TOWN AND DISTRICT. 




INDEX OF PERSONS AND PLACES. 

For Abbesses, Prebendaries, and Vicars, see under individual names in this Index. 



Aas, Felicia, Abbess, 191, 192, 196. 
Aas, Ralph, 191. 

Abarrow, Barbara, Edward, and Sir 

William, 257-8 pedigree. 
Abbey Gate, 6. 
Abbott's Ann, church, 192. 
Ablyngton, John and Alice, 170. 
Account Roll of Household, 194-5. 
Account Roll of King's Bailiff, 271. 
Ace, John, 1 10. 
Acle, Walter de, 71. 
Adam, Preb. and Rector, 65, 72, 125. 
Admundus, Presb., 125. 
^lgyfu, Abb., 28. 
.^lgyfu, or Emma, Queen, 35. 
^Elfleda, Queen, 11, 12. 
Pineda, Nun, 11, 12. 
^Elfthryth, or Elfrida, Queen, 4, 15, 

17-19. 
^lfwold, 15. 

^thelflaeda, S. and Abb., 17-27, 29, 
31, 45, 52, 57, 68, 70; her chapel, 
192. 

^thelhilda, 11. 
^thelred, King, 5, 35. 
^thelwine, 15. 

^thelwold, Earl, 4, 15-17, 19. 

^thelwold, Bp., 13, 18. 

Agard, Roger, 152. 

Agmondersham, 127. 

Aguylun, Rob. and Margaret, 79. 

Ailesbury, John de, 150, 153, 163. 

Alan, Count, 41. 

Alanus, Chapl., 59, 126. 

Albemarle, Countess of, Isabella de 

Fortibus, 79. 
Alberburia, Th. de, 80. 
Alfred, King, 5, 11, 12. 
Alfwen, 15. 



Almsmen and women, 271-2. 

Alresford, 67. 

Alricius, 52. 

Alwine, Bp., 5. 

Alwardus, 59. 

Amesbury, 58, 250. 

Amicia, and v. Sulhere de, 149, 164. 

Andover, 4, 67, 1 1 1. 

Annadown, Henry, Bp., 166. 

Anne, Alice de, 113. 

Anne, Queen, 187, 

Anselm, Abp., 40-43. 

Anton, River, 4. 

Aqua, Emma de, 153. 

Arches, Court of, 130. 

Arnold's House, 276. 

Artone, Alice, Nun, 166. 

Arundel, William, Earl of, 182. 

Arundel, Lord, 245. 

Ashbury, Berks, 130, 

Ashely, 59. 

Ashfield or Ashfold, 7, 204. 

Ashley, Johanna, 159. 

Ashley, Thomasine, 198, 220, 224, 236. 

Ashridge, Bucks, 150. 

Ashton, v. Steeple. 

Asshe, 171. 

Atheling, Edgar, 39, 41. 
Athelstan, King, 12. 
Athelstan, half-king, 15. 
Augmentation, Court of, 250, 256, 268, 
272, 

Aungerville, Ric, 131. 
Austreberthe, S., Monastery of, 56. 
Austrey Crosse and Wood, 267, 268. 
Awdeley, Lord, 275-6. 
Axemuth, Will, de, 64. 
Ayremine, Ric. de, 136-7. 
Aysshelonde, Kath, 112. 



284 



Index. 



B. 

Bacch, John le, 177. 
Baddesley, 256, 277. 
Bailey, John, 192. 

Baker, John [Warden of Winton 
Coll.], 198. 

Banester, Edith, Nun, 237, 246, 253. 

Bannerman, Florence, 250. 

Banning, or Bannok, Street, 1 75-6, 200. 

Barbe, S., family, 278. 

Barbfle, Matilda de, Abb., 63-4, 66, 71. 

Bardolf, Th., 269. 

Bardolfeston, 75. 

Barton, Rob. and Delicia, 197. 

Bassett, John, 203. 

Batildis, Saint and Queen, 15. 

Barwyke, John, 189. 

Bayley, Wal., 269. 

Baynton, Manor of, 151. 

Beare, Rob., 270. 

Beauchamp, Sir John, 206. 

Beauchamp, Ric, Bp. Sarum, 213. 

Beaulieu, 254. 

Belfry, the, 270-1. 

Bellowe and Biggott, 267. 

Bere, de la, Andrew, 85-6. 
„ „ Alice, 85-6. 
„ „ Richard, 85-6. 
„ „ Th., 86. 

Bere, la, forest of, 81. 

Berell, Will., 200. 

Berengarius, 52. 
Berkele, Eliz., Dame, 165. 
Bernard, Wal., 203. 
Berwick, John de, Preb., 126. 
Beynton, 12. 
Beyre, John, 185. 
Biscaye, John, Lord of, 130. 
Blacche, Will., 153-4. 
Blaise, S. and Bp., 185. 
Blontesdone, Cecily de, 110-11. 
Blowes, Will., 269. 
Bluet, John, 92. 
Bonnam, Marg., 279. 
Boteleston, Nic. de, 64, 121, 168. 
Botenhanger, 206. 
Bourges, S. Sulpice at, 54, 
Bourne, Th. de, 177. 
Brabant, Duke of, 57. 
Bradebridge, Broadbridge, 36, 81, 175, 
Bradley, Monastery of, 52 ; chapel 
72, 74, 146, 152. 



Braishfield, Brayesfeld, Nic. de, 115, 

1 16, 256, 269. 
Braishfield, Brayesfeld, Emma de, 

1 17-18. 

Brembelsshete, Alice de, 114. 

Bretere, Will., 202. 

Bridge End, 276. 

Bridges of Cobberley, 206. 

Brithwina, 17, 19. 

Britoni, Geoffrey, 73. 

Briwere, Will., 5, 81. 

Broadlands, or Brodelande, 7, 205-6, 

256, 265, 277, 278. 
Broadwater, 164. 
Brodelande style, 176. 
Broke, Eliz., Abb., 211-26. 
Bromcroft, 183. 
Brommore, Agnes de, no. 
Brotherhood of S. George, v. S. George. 
„ S. Laurence, v. S. Laur. 

„ Jesus, 185. 

Browne, John, 277. 
Bruera, Gilbert de, 134. 
Brugge, Peter, 166. 
Bruges, Eleanore, 206. 
Bryce, Master, 222 -5. 
Bryggys, Joan, Abb., 198, 206-11, 224. 
Bryone, Isabella, 272. 
Bull, Dorothy, 279. 

„ Edm., 279. 

„ John, 185, 269, 275. 

„ Rob., 276. 
Burci, Serbo de, 54. 
Bures, Will, de, 121, 171, 192. 
Burnett, Will, 269. 
Burnham, Bob., 269, 275. 
Buttesthorne, de, Joan, Margery, Ric. 

and Rog., 114. 



c. 

Camoys, Isabel de, Abb., 148. 
„ Ralp de, 164. 
„ Margery de, 166. 
Canmore, Malcolm, K. Scotland, 39, 

40, 42. 
Canons of Romsey, 126. 
Canterbury, Abp. of, 115. 
Canterton, 5, 71. 
Canute, 5, 26, 35. 



Index. 



285 



Carbonel, Sybil, Abb., 91, 93, 96, 98, 
109. 

Carell, Maria, 248. 
Carter, Wal., 269. 
Casewyk, Matilda, 213. 
Cassanchis, Gaucelin de, 137. 
Cassett, Will., 257. 
Catell, John, 203. 

Cecilia, Abb., 64-66, 69, 72, 74, 124. 

Cerne, Henry de, 71. 

Certeseye, Isabella de, 164. 

Certificates of Colleges, 186. 

Chabbes Garden, 265. 

Chabbes, Lodging, 264. 

Chaddesly, Ric. de, Preb., 109-1 1 1, 132. 

Chamberlyn, Alice, 166. 

Chaplain's House, 265. 

Chapter House, 122, 264. 

Chark, John, 101. 

Chartulary (Winton Cath.), 136. 

Cheriton, 134. 

Cherville, St., 176. 

Chester, T. H., 269. 

Chilworth, 274. 

China, 118. 

Christina, 39, 51, 55. 

Chulmarke, Henry de, 127. 

Churchstile, St., 6, 115, 176. 

Cinnoc, Savaric de, 71. 

Clarendon, Forest, 67, 70. 

Cleeve, Michael, 215, 216. 

Clere Regis, or Kingsclere, 18. 

Clericuli of Romsey, 52. 

Clerk, Simon, 269, 271, 276. 

Cocke, John, 1 16. 

Codewell, Will, de, 177. 

Cole, John, 171. 

Compton, Johanna de, 114. 

Confraternity, spiritual, 29-31. 

Constables, 276. 

Constance, Abb., 64, 69, 73. 

Cook, Robert, 270. 

Cooke, Stephen, 183. 

Cotes, Chapel of, 53. 

Coueleston, 72, 157. 

Courle, John, 184. 

Cowse, Nic, 277. 

Cranborne, 59, 140. 

Cromwell, Th., 248, 249, 250. 

Crondall, 85. 

Crowchman, Simon, 183. 



D. 

Dabernoun, John, 92. 
Danes, the, 26, 27, 35, 38. 
Darrell, Joan, 250. 
Dean, East and West, 6, 75. 
De la Ware, Lord, 245. 
Delburge, Nic, Preb., 140. 
Despenser, Hugh le, 164. 
Devizes, 53. 
Domesday, 6. 

Dowce, Ric. and John, 266, 273-4. 

Dowman, John, Preb., 228-9, 2 4 x - 

Dowman, Marg., 247. 

Dunsan, S. and Abp., 13, 18. 

Durham, 12, 29, 30. 

Dynham, Oliver, Preb., 213, 220. 



E. 

Eadgyth, Queen, 4. 
Eadgyth, see Matilda, Queen. 
Eccleslde, or Eccleshall, de John, 133. 
Edgar, King, 4, 13-19, 37-8, 53, 66, 

81, 96, 113, 271. 
Edington, or Edyndon, 14, 53, 57, 59, 

72, 73, 80, 109, 126, 134, 151, 159, 

254- 

Edington Register, 52, 65, 156, 163. 

Edmund Atheling, 15. 

Edmund, Presb., 52. 

Edward the Black Prince, 150. 

Edward the Confessor, 4, 35, 78. 

Edward the Elder, 11, 12. 

Edwin Cocus, 52. 

Edyndon, John de, Preb., 134, 148. 

„ Ralph de, 77. 

„ Walter de, 77. 
Ela, Countess. 75, 76. 
Elfleda, see ^lflaeda. 
Elfrida, see Queen ^Elfthryth. 
Eling, 8, 205. 
Elmere, John, 172. 

Eltham, John of, Earl of Cornwall, 130. 

Elwina, Abb., 20-27, 35. 

Ely, Bp. of, 166. 

Emery, John, 182. 

Emma, Queen, 5, 35. 

Enborn, Berks, 79, 80. 

Ermyne, Ayremine. 

Ervin, Henry, 215. 



U 



286 



Index. 



Escuet, Will., 45. 
Essefalde, Edwin de, 52. 
Essetona, see Steeple Ashton. 
Esthorp, Brian, 228, ff. 
Ethelmere, Governor of Hants, 15. 
Ethelfleda, see ^thelflaeda. 
Ethelwold, see /Ethelwold. 
Ethelred the Unready, see ^Ithelred. 
Ethelwulfe, 5. 
Ethenduna, see Edington. 
Euy, or Evy, Lane, 201, 276. 
Everard, Lucy, Abb., 17 1-2. 
Ewshot, 85. 

Exchequer, Red Book of, 156. 



F. 

Falesia, Will, de, 36, 64. 
Furicius, Abb. of S. Albans, 44. 
Farlee, or Farlegh, Will, de, 133. 
Fatte, Wol. le, 79. 
Fauconberg, Eustachia de, 77 
Fishlake, 6, 175. 
Fitz-Herbert, Dame Lucy, 164. 
Fitz-Piers, Reg., 164. 
Fitz-Waryn, Sir Philip, 159. 
Fleming, Eliz., nun, 248. 

,, Frances, 277. 

,, Sir Francis, 140, 265, 267, 
268, 271, 277, 278. 
Fleming, Michael, 279. 

„ Sir Th., 277. 

„ Will., 267, 277G80. 
Fleury, 13. 

Florencia, James de, Preb., 127, 135. 

Folton, Master, 228. 

Folyot, John, 171. 

Fonte, Rob de, 59. 

Fontevrault, 58. 

Forde, John, 198. 

Forester, John, Alice, and Eliz., 166. 
170. 

Foster, Edw., 140. 

Foster, John, 247, 249, 251-3, 256-7, 
276. 

Foster, T. H., 249, 269. 
Fractis, Nic. de, 137. 
Fraunceys Isab., 1 14. 
Frederick I, Emp., 56. 
Freshwater church, 79. 
Frithestan, Bp., 12. 



G. 

Gabbell, Wal., 199. 

Galiciano, Pet. de, Preb., 130, 132. 

Galne, Wal., 125. 

Gaterygges Place, 207. 

George, Christopher, 229, 232, 241. 

George, Th., 186. 

Gerard, Earl of Gueldres, 57. 

Gilbert, the Deacon, 52. 

Goddard, Marion, 248. 

Godwyn, Vicar, Steeple Ashton, 73. 

Gorsyn, Alice, nun, 245. 

Gosemede, 207. 

Grace Dieu Abbey, 75. 

Gregory VII and IX, Popes, 247. 

Grene, John, 214. 

Grenefeldjohn, 201. 

Grinstead, East, 75. 

Grove Place, 8. 

Grymstede, John de, 114. 

„ Th. de, 114. 

Guardians of Romsey church, 279. 
Guldeforde, Clemencia de, Abb., 91, 95. 
Gyfforde, Ric, 280. 



H. 

Hadewisa, Abb., 51-3, 125. 
Hainault, Earl of, 56. 
Halterworth, 204. 
Hampton, John and Alice, de, 98. 
Harvey, Agnes, nun, 224-5, 234, 246. 
Haselbury, 85. 

Haynow, Avice, nun, 225, 234, 241. 

Hayward, Steph, 183. 

Hede, Dr., 223. 

Henry, Clericus, 52. 

Herlewin, 52. 

Hertford, Earl of, 206. 

Hertyngdon, Adam de, Preb., 140. 

Hill, Will, 185. 

Hillfields, or Highfield, 204. 

Hingham, Ralph de, 130. 

Hodgis, Wal, 215. 

Hogeman, Lucy, 152. 

Hoghton, Greg, de, 70. 

Holloway, Edith, nun, 213, 224. 

Holme, John, 182. 

Holte, Sybilla, nun, 164. 

Homcroft, 203. 

Honchon, John, 203, 



Index. 



287 



Hode, Ric, 152 
Hordes, Th., 247. 
Horton, John, 153. 
Hosato, Wal., 45. 

Hospital. SS. Mary and Anthony, 204, 
272. 

Householde Hall, 264. 
Hrumesig, Hrumensis 7. 
Hundred, The, 6, 176. 
Hunlacy, 53. 

Husbond, David, 214-15. 
Hyde Abbey and Register, 7, 27, 29, 
35, 115, 164. 



I & J. 

Jamys, Will, 184. 

Ichenstoke, 99, 193. 

Icthe,John, Abb. ,111, 112, 121, 131, 132. 

Ida, of Blois, 57. 

Jesus, Chapel of, 185. 

Imber, or Immere, 59, 72, 126, 140, 

155, 158, 159- 
Ingeham, John and Albreda de, 75, 76. 
Incent, John, 242, 244. 
Inmede, 154. 
Immere, John de, 157. 
Inslnesborough, 204. 
Joan, Wid., 170. 
Johanna, Princess, 60. 
Johans, Ric, 246. 
John, Presb., 52. 
Ironside, Edm., 39. 
Isabel, see Nevill. 
Isabel of Salisbury, 75. 
Judson, John, 275. 
Juliana, Abb., 51, 57~59> 6 9> l 5^- 
Jurati of Romsey, 269. 
Jueul, de Henry, 72. 



K. 

Kemeseye, 132. 
Kent, John, 192. 

Kepernham, or Cupernham, 202, 204, 
273- 

Keredyf, John, 191. 
Keylewey, Sir Will., 280. 
Kilpec, Isabella de, 84. 
Kilpec Manor, 84-5. 



Kimbridge, 5-6. 

Kings of England [for Saxon Kings, 

v. individual names] : — 
Edward I, 36, 41, 44, 49-50, 53, 55, 

71, 77-8, 87. 
Edward II, 36, 53-5, 58, 69, 75, 78, 

Edward IV, 182; Black Book of, 
274. 

Henry I, 35, 41, 44, 45, 49, 50. 
Henry II, 36, 53-56, 58. 
Henry III, 60, 63, 66-9, 77, 78. 
Henry IV, 170, 191, 195. 
Henry VIII, 244. 
John, 59, 66. 
Richard I, 58, 69. 
Richard II, 170, 198. 
Stephen, 51-5. 

William the Conqueror, 35, 36. 
William Rufus, 39-41. 
Kingsclere, 18. 

King's Somborne, v. Somborne. 
Kychener, John and Agnes, 276. 
Kyrby, John, 273. 



L. 

Lancaster, Duchy of, 267. 
Lanfranc, Abp., 42. 
Langford, Th. de, 158. 
Langley Mede, 207. 
Latham, Mr., 196, 197, 281. 
Latimer, or Lortemere, Street, 176. 
Latimer, Hugh, 274. 
Laycock Abbey, 75. 
Laycroft, Th., 184, 229, 232. 
Layton, Ric, 249. 
Leckford, 4, 166, 167. 
Lee, 7, 74, 201, 205, 273. 
Leech, John de, no. 
Legh, Dr., 249. 
Letice, Alice, nun, 78. 
Lillechurch, 30, 54. 

Lists of nuns, 28, 112, 113, 166, 236, 

237, 248, 253. 
Lockerley, 6. 
Longparish, 4. 
Longspee, Will., 75. 
Louis VII, King, 55. 
Lovell, Maud, Abb., 164, 166, 167, 196, 

198, 201. 



288 



Index. 



Lusteshall, Ric. de, Preb., 109, 121, 

136, 137. 
Luzborough, 204. 

Lyster, Sir Ric, and Eliz., 140, 234, 
250, 251, 265, 266. 



M. 

Malewayn, John, and others, and 
Manor of, 171, 193, 205, 266, 274. 

Malyn, Clemence, 246. 

Mannestun, Ric. de, 72, 126. 

Marchwood, 8. 

Mare, Kath. de la, 166. 

Margaret, S. and Queen, 39. 

Market Place, 6, 275. 

Martyn, Robert, 118, 184. 

Mary, Princess of Scotland, 39, 55. 

Mary, Princess of Blois, Abb., 51, 54- 
56, 58. 

Maryng, or Maryuleyn, Clemence, and 

Isab., 223, 234. See Morgan. 
Mascal, John, 171, 199. 
Mason, John, 140, 268. 
Matilda, Queen, 39, 41-44, 46, 49, 55. 
Matilda, Abbesses, 53, 55, 63, 64, 71, 77. 
Matthew, of Alsace, 55, 56. 
Maud, Queen, 54. 
Maud, of Blois, 57. 
Maunsell, John, 81. 

Maydenstane, Rob. and Nic, Prebs., 

127-9, 135, 136. 
Mayhnestone (Mainstone), Manor of, 

1 14, 171, 206, 276. 
Mayors, 276, 277. 
Medicus, John, 152. 
Menstede, John, 170, 171. 
Merebrook, 151 

Merwinna (Merwynna), Abb., 14, 15, 

18-20, 23, 26, 27. 
Michael fil. Herlwin, 57. 
Michelmersh, 5, 6, 135, 170. 
Middlebridge (Mydill Br.), 6, 7, 171, 

275, 276. 
Middleton, Gilb. de, 130, 131. 
Milchet Wood, 66. 
Mills, 6, 7, 68, 200. 
Mill Lane, 68. 
Minstead, 114. 
Mody, Will, 268. 
Molens, Will, and John, 183, 275. 



Monmouth, John and Cecily de, 75. 
Montague, John and Mabel de, 78, 79. 
Montreuil, 56. 

Moore-Court, 8, 171, 201, 205. 
Moore, Ric, 183. 
More, Abbot, 266, 274. 
More, Christina, nun, 225. 

„ Edburge, nun, 213. 

„ John, 201. 
Morgan, Isab., 213, 214, 216, 218. 
Morton, Abp„ 216. 
Morys, Wal., 268. 
Mottisfont, 4, 5, 30, 31. 
Moulysh, Martin, 170. 
Mounceaux, Alice, nun, 111. 
Mylle, Geo. and Th., 280. 
Mynxton, Mead, 207. 

N. 

Naile, Th., 234. 
Nele, Wal., 153. 
Netheravene, Wal. de 115. 
Nevill, Alan de, 80, 81. 

„ Isab. de, 63, 64, 66, 75, 76. 

„ Joan, de, 74, 76. 

„ Will de, 75. 
Newbury, 67. 
Newman, Nic, 232. 
Newman, John, 241, 242, 268, 269. 
Nicholas, Pope, 129. 
Nigella, Simon de, 135. 
Northbroke, 154. 
Northgaston, 203, 204, 265. 
Northlode, Alice, 166. 
Northuenda, 35. 
Northwood, 78. 
Notchaach, Will., 152. 
Nott, Wall, 170. 

Nubbeleye, John de, Preb., 139, 146. 
Nuns, v. -lists of, 

o. 

Offerd, or Ufford, And. de, Preb., 133-4. 

Oke, see Roke. 

Ordgar, Earl, 4, 16. 

Osbert, 52, 125. 

Oswald, Bp. 13. 

Overton, 3. 

Overton, Edw. de, 126. 
Oxford, Christ Church, 51. 



Index. 



289 



P. 

Palmer, Roger, 52. 
Paradise, The, 265. 
Pashide, Ric, 249. 
Paskirie, 207. 
Passelewe, Robert, 80. 
Paten, Joan, nun, 214, 219, 220, 223. 
Patric, Earl of Salisbury, 75. 
Patric, Matilda, Abb., 59, 63, 64, 67, 
7*. 75- 

Pauncefoot Hill, 7, 115, 206, 207. 
Pauncefoot, Sir John, 206. 

„ Margaret, 114, 206. 

„ Richard, 170, 171. 

„ Thomas, 206. 

„ Walter, 183, 206. 

Pawlett, Lord Chidiok, 276. 
Payne, Johanna, 1 14. 
Payne, John, 269. 
Peckham, Archbishop, 82, 94. 
Pedigrees of : — 

Salisbury, 75. 

Walerand, 75, 85. 

Le Rous, 158 face. 

Wadham and Foster, 258 face. 

Fleming, 277. 
Pembroke, William de, 154. 
Penes, Walter de, 3, 10. 
Percy, Hilaria de, 77. 
Periton, 116, 207, 265. 
Persshete, Alice de, 111, 115. 
Peter, Scriptor of S. Alban's, 52. 
Peuseys, John, 170, 171. 
Placy, John, 214. 
Plaitford Manor, 114. 
Plukenet, Alan de, 85, 86, 87. 
Porter's, or Porte Bridge, 6, 176, 196, 

275- 

Powes, Emma, 225. 

Poyns, Margaret, 168. 

Pratt, Will., Mayor, 277. 

Preest, John, 154. 

Priestland, 205, 207, 265. 

Purye, Roger, 171. 

Putton, William de, 154, 170, 171. 

Pydman, John, 185. 



Q. 

Quabbe, or Squob, Wood, 6. 



R. 

Ralf, Dispensator, 52. 

Ramsey, 7. 

Randolph, John, 92. 

Ranulphus, Chaplain, 57. 

Ranulphus, Priest, 72. 

Rawlyn, Peronilla, 184. 

Ray, John, 241. 

Raynold, John, 184. 

Receyvour's Lodging, 265. 

Redbridge, 8. 

Rede, John le, 147. 

Redvers, Baldwin de, 79. 

Reed, Cicily, 223. 

Reginald, Count of Damartin, 57. 

Richards, John, 265. 

Ridge, Rugge, Rige, 7, 45, 171. 

Ringwood, 1 14. 

Rivallis, Peter de, 5. 

Robert, the Architect, 50. 

Robert, Archdeacon of Canterbury, 102. 

Robert, Presbyter, 125. 

Robertus, 52. 

Robertus, Medicus, 59. 

Roches, Isolda de, 97. 

Roffa, Solomon de, Preb., 130. 

Roger, Archdeacon of Salisbury, 149. 

Roger, Bishop, 45. 

Roger, Presbyter, 52, 125. 

Roke, Manor of, 6, 273. 

Romeseye, see Romsey. 

Romesey, John de, Rec. of Edington, 

65, 72, 73, 79, 80, 125, 126. 
Romesey, Julia de, 115. 
Romney, 7. 

Romsey Abb. Lands, 265. 
,, Benedictional, 27. 
„ Court Rolls, 199. 
„ Psalter, 27. 

Town, 3, 6, 7, 273. 
Romsey, Walter de, 71, 77, 80. 
Rood, Holy, chapel, 232, 246. 
Rous, Richard le, and others, 59, 99, 
156-9. 

Rovedoune, or Roudon, Johanna de, 

78, 84. 
Rownhams, 267, 278. 
Rowse, Joyce, Abb., 220, 224, 226, 229- 

233- 

Rowthale, Elizabeth, 222. 
Ruffus, Godfrey, 59. 



Index. 



Ruimne, 7. 
Rumbridge, 7, 8. 
Rumesey, Christiana, 60. 
Rumsey, see Romsey. 
Rye, Denise de la, 198. 
Rye, Margery de, 169. 
Ryprose, Eliz., Abb., 242, 243, 248, 
249. 

Ryve, John, Preb., 241. 



S. 

Salisbury, Bishops of, 72, 73. 
Diocese, 136. 
Earls of, Pedigree, 75. 
„ S. Mary's, 150. 
Salt, John and Eliz., 270, 276. 
Sampson, Eliz., 106. 

Will., 154. 
Sandys, Lord and Lady, 227, 244. 
Scarlet, Warden, 148. 
Schyrlock, Will., Preb., 84. 
Scrop, Henry le, 92. 
Scrope, Geoffrey le, 132, 133. 
Scures, John de, 98. 
Sedgewyke, or Segwyke, Nic, 116; 

Elinora, 269. 
Selwood Forest, 80. 
Semington, 151. 

Sevenhampton, Wal. de, 133, 134. 
Sexton, John, 192. 

Seymour, Sir Th., 251, 252, 254, 266. 
Sharpe, Th., 140. 
Shelley, Eliz., 250. 
Shepstone, Th. de, 128 
Shirborne, Rob., 2i6, 217. 
Shirnham, Juliana, 166. 
Shorewel!, Rob. de, 74. 
Short, Christopher, 25 1 , 269. 
Shotter, Th., 182, 202. 
Shyffeld, Kath., nun, 198. 
Silvercoft, 203. 
Simon, Presb., 72. 

Skelyng, or Skyllyng, Anne, nun, 226, 
241. 

Skidmore, 20 1, 205. 
Skyllyng, Agnes, nun, 234. 

,, Joan, 211, 213, 219, 223. 
Skyllyngham, Will., 200. 
Slade, Christine de la, 79. 



Smalmeade, 128, 201. 
Somborne, 4, 36. 
Somersete, Almaricus de, 81. 
Somersete, Henry de, 206. 
Southampton, 8, 67, 71, 266. 
Southwell, 205. 
Sparshott, 274. 
Spitel Street, 203, 204. 
Spurshot, 1 15. 

S. Andrew, chapel of, 117, 129, 252. 

S. Anne, chapel of, 1 18. 

S. Barbe, Edw. and Frances, 277, 278. 

S. Boniface, 8. 

S. Brice, 27. 

S. Catherine, image of, 117. 

S. Cuthbert, 12. 

S. Edburga, 11, 12. 

S. George, Fraternity and Chantry of, 

117, 182-8. 
S. Laurence de Romsey, 131, 132, 140, 

182, 183, 185, 192. 
S. Laurence de Winton, 140, 180. 
S. Martin, Will, de, 74, 76. 
S. Mary's, Winton, the Nunnaminster, 

11, 13, 14, 227, 250. 
S. Michael's, Southton, 266. 
S. Nicholas, chapel of, 117, 218. 
S. Peter, chapel of 252, 264. 
S. Swithun's, Winton, 5, 13, 29, 30, 

163, 217. 
Stadham, Kath., nun, 198, 213. 
Stafferton, Master, 249. 
Stanbridge, 51, 170, 171, 207, 234. 
Stanlegh, Agnes, nun, no, in. 
Stapylforde, John, 192. 
Staryeffrythe, 205, 278. 
Steeple Ashton, 52, 53, 57, 68, 73, 74, 

80, 151-4- 
Stephen, fitz, Arad, 45. 
Stokes, Phillipa de, Abb., 84, 91, 94, 

96. 

Stratford-at-Bow, 54. 
Stratford, Rob. de, 109, 134. 
Stratford, Joan. 166. 
Stretforde, Jouette de, 98. 
Sulhere, Amicia de, Abb., 64, 78. 
Sweyen, Swanus, 26. 
Sydmanton, 18, 72, 79, 80, 126, 129, 
138, 170, 193. 



Index. 



291 



T. 

Tadburne, Lake, 204. 
Talemache, Lord John, 171. 
Talke, Anne, nun, 343, 244. 
Tappesham, 207, 265. 
Tawke, Ellen, nun, 221, 225. 
Taylor, Rog., 268. 
Taxpayers, 272, 273. 
Teorstan, 6. 
Terbock, 216, 218, 219. 
Terstwood, Manor of, 77, 114, 171, 
200. 

Test, River, 3, 4, 7, 8. 
Testwode, Ric. de, 58, 79. 
Theobald, Archbishop, 54. 
Theodoric, C. of Flanders, 55. 
Thomson, Th., 249. 
Thorold, Thomas, 171. 
Thuddene, Alice de, nun, 114. 
Timsbury, Church of, 5, 72, 126, 140. 

„ Prebend of, 241, 268. 
Temys, Will, 269. 
Toot, or Tote, Hill, 205, 268. 
Tornour, William, 183. 
Totton, 8, 171, 200. 
Trappe, Richard, 200. 
Trotton, Manor of, 164. 
Turkington, Mabel, 277, 279. 
Tylshyde, 74. 

Tynhide, or Tinhead, 151, 154. 
Tystede, Maud, nun, 224, 234. 

u. 

Ufford, de, see Offerd. 
Umfray, John, 180, 191. 
Umfray, Joan, 166, 167. 
Uphulle, John, 128. 

V. 

Verdun, Margery de, 84. 
Vrigge, Master de, 137. 

w. 

Wade, Manor, 8, 275. 
Wadham, Jane, 251, 253, 255. 
Kath., 251, 253. 

„ Nich., 251. 

,, Pedigree, 258. 
Walcock, Christina, 152. 



Walding and Waldenbridge, 187, 205, 
276. 

Waler, Mat. 67. 

Walerand, Alicia, Abb., 64, 77, 78, 80, 

84-6, 157. 
Walerand, Alice, see Bere. 
„ Cecily, 86. 
„ Matilda, Abb., v. Patric. 

Isabella, 85. 
„ Pedigrees, 75, 85. 
Rob., 80, 85. 
Walter, 59, 67, 75, 151. 
Will, 84-6. 
Wallop, Ric. de, 157. 
Walshe, Anne, 277, 279. 
Warham, Kath., 98, 114. 
Warham, Rob. de, 98, 114. 
Waude, la, 79. 
Wawayn, John, 133. 
Wellis, Eliz. 275. 
Wells, Manor of, 8, 166. 
West, Alice, 164. 

„ Thomas and Reg., 200. 
Westbroke, Anne, Abb., 232, 241. 

Peter, 265, 271. 
Westbury, Wilts, 53, 154. 
Wethers, Nic, 116, 269. 
Wharwellesdown, 53, 150. 
Wherwell, 4, 16, 29, 31, 163, 227, 233. 
Whitenap, or Whyttenharp, 204. 
Whithitham, 206. 
Whityng, Rob., 183. 
Whwytechirche, Preb. John de, 73. 
Whytingstale, Alice, nun, 226. 
Wiggelee, Agneta, 200. 
William, Sermonicator, 52. 
„ Armiger, 52. 
„ Count of Boulogne, 55. 
Willoughby, Ric, 207. 
Wilton, 11, 164. 
Wiltshire, Gil. de, 224. 
Wimborne Minster, 127. 
Winchester, 59, 67. 
Winchester, Bishops of : — 
Asser, Bp., Register of, 127. 
Beaufort, Henry, 93, 105, 129, 166, 

191, 195, 196. 
Courtney, 216. 

Edyndon, William de, 77, 117, 119, 
I3i> 133, 135. 138, 145, 158, 165. 
Fox, Ric, 222, 227, 228, 244-7. 



292 



Index. 



Winchester, Bishops of : — 
Gardiner, Steph., 248. 
Orlton, Adam, 96, 116, 117, 122, 158. 
Pontoise, John de, 82, 93, 94, 99, 131. 
Stratford, John de, 97, 98, 109, 131. 
Thorold, Anthony, 269. 
Woodlock, Henry, 92, 94, 95, 97, 102. 
Waynflete, Will, of, 211-16. 
Wykeham, William of, 128, 135, 139, 
149, 165, 169, 172, 180, 191. 
Winchester Cathedral, v. S. Swithun's. 
„ Coll., lands of, 275. 
„ Dean of, 268, 269. 
,, Road, Romsey, 176. 
Windsor, Dean of, 267. 
Winterslow, Manor of, 115. 



Wlfhilda, 4. 

Wlpardus, Armiger, 52. 

Wobbury, 201, 202, 205. 

Wodefeld, John, 170. 

Wollys Downe, 202. 

Woolsey, Canon Th., 247. 

Wolsey, Cardinal, 244, 245, 247. 

Wolvesey, 101. 

Wordy, Th. de, 111. 

Wulfynn, Abb., 28. 

Wykeham, Nic. de, 140. 

Wylderne, Rob. and Maud de la, 79. 

Wynslade, Ric, 268. 

Wyntereshulle, Alicia de, Abb., and 

others, 91-3. 
Wyville, Rob., Bp. Sarum, 149. 



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